Shakespeare's Violets

Is This What We've Become?

2011-12-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

This is my neighbor's house. He's got a star, Sponge Bob, a snowman, Rudolph, a snow globe, and candy canes. For Halloween, he had a giant, gory vampire bat creature dripping blood and hanging upside down from his garage.

I don't want to sound prudish, or like I'm preaching, but...GOSH, is this what we've become? We have taken God out of everything, it seems, even the holiday that is supposed to be about Him. Worse, we've made everything so based on materialism and "stuff" that Sponge Bob, the obnoxious sponge, sells Christmas, and mangers offend.

I shudder when we drive by this house. To me, it exemplifies what Christmas has become for so many--in all its glittery horror.

I felt this way when the world was gearing up for black Friday. Everyone seemed to be forgetting to pause and to say thank you to God for their blessings and their families. In this warp speed we call life, we work our tails off to buy more stuff to spend less time with the people the "stuff" is supposed to be for.

Henry David Thoreau talked about simplifying. "I went to the woods to live deliberately, to suck the marrow out of life."

I don't feel like we live deliberately any more. We live in a shiny, flashy blur. We live on autopilot. We don't make the most important things meaningful. I see it in my students sometimes. There is a loneliness in their eyes. They long for recognition and attention. They need to matter. Their parents have not only stopped monitoring their homework, they have stopped teaching them basic life lessons- manners and morals, kindness, giving....love.

This isn't the time of year I want to focus on this. I won't spend another precious minute worrying about it, but I just had to VENT.

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

~Matthew 6: 19-21

A Tail of Two Piggies...err Kitties

2011-12-19T20:28:00.000-08:00

Can you match the tail to its owner?

Some are curly

Some are stout

Some are fluffy

Some stick out

All unique

All adored

Can you tell that someone's

Reallllllly bored?

Why I Am Not Like Most People...

2011-12-15T19:37:00.000-08:00

1) I don't follow sports. I don't know teams, players, who is playing, what "place" they are in, or even what season it is. I don't care about them at all. The only games I watch (sorta) are high school football games, and only because I feel ownership of the team since some of those guys are my students. :)

2) I don't care a lick about cars. I think people pay outrageous car payments. I haven't had a car payment in over 3 years!

3) I text and Facebook using proper grammar. I shudder when I read "dat" instead of "that", "ur" instead of "your", "neva" instead of "never", "ta" instead of "to", and "sista" instead of "sister." YUCK.

4) I am not competitive in the least EXCEPT when it involves classroom competitions.

5) I don't understand why ANYONE would want to put nuts in ANYTHING...especially walnuts. YUCK again!

6) I like the smell of my dog's breath even though it repulses most people.

7) I don't really like talking to people one on one. I am better at writing or speaking with/to a classroom of students...even to a room of parents. I would rather speak or perform in front of a large group than actually CONVERSE with someone. I seriously get panicky because I think I'll run out of stuff to say. This doesn't apply to talking on the phone with close friends or to my husband or kids or close family. It applies to talking to someone I know, but not super well. I hate the pressure. I also worry I'll talk too much if I get going, or not enough if I don't come up with a topic quickly enough.

8) I am not good at lying or "faking it" when I don't really care for a person. I like to be genuine. I know that white lies are often necessary, or that people need to be politicians at times. I just don't like it. I avoid eye contact when I get uncomfortable in these sorts of situations. I need to learn to play the game and act friendly even when I'm not feelin' it.

9) If I don't read before bed, I cannot fall asleep. Even if it's just a page, I must read. I also get really worried if I'm out and about without a book on my person (either in my purse or in my car.) I have a reading app on my Iphone, but it's not the same.

10) I always have fun when I go out and do something, but I never like having a plan to go. I like the idea of staying home with my kids, my pugs, my cats, my books, and my tea. I traveled to the East Coast a couple of years ago and had the time of my life. I loved every minute of it, but before I left, I didn't want to go. I got so nervous and thought about how much everyone would miss me, how the plane could crash, how it was too long to be away from everything...I dreaded it. Then, I just went, and I loved it. I'm sure some psychologist type would tell me that I had panic disorder or anxiety. I probably do. I'm glad it doesn't stop me from doing the things I end up enjoying! :)

Like Taffy

2011-10-12T21:53:00.000-07:00

Ever have those moments where you look at your kids and feel overwhelmed and in awe of them? I felt that way tonight watching Emma do her homework...her furrowed brow, her freckles, her serious expression. I had a moment where I saw her perfect little baby head, bald as can be, and her ginormous baby cheeks. How did she turn into this 5th grader writing in her reading log, chewing on her pencil?

This blog is often about life's little moments, about family, about pugs, teaching, and random thoughts--but it always circles back around to the two girls God blessed me with.

On the way home to get ready for water polo practice tonight, Grace piped up from the back seat, "Now, when we get home, don't dilly dally! We have to get our bathing suits, grab towels, and get back in the car. I don't want to be late!"

As she speaks, I'm thinking, "Dilly dally....where did she get that term? Do I say that? Does she remember it from Grandma Otti? Is she an 85-year-old woman trapped in the body of a 5th grader?"

My brain begins to spin in circles.

I reflect....

My childhood felt like an eternity. We lived in Mammoth. Danielle was born. We moved to Bishop. We went to school. It was so cold in the Winter that my legs would be purple beneath my knee high socks. We swam at Mill Pond in the summer, trying to stand up and "walk" on the logs that floated in the pond. We played all around the neighborhood, catching pollywogs and saving baby birds. We rode horses, practiced piano, and ate one of the several home-cooked meals my mom would make: tacos, spaghetti, meatloaf, fried chicken, or pork chops. Or, we ate at the Sizzler, and since my parents owned it, we ate there a lot. We roller skated in the driveway. We sang in chorus, played on the monkey bars, and went to the Presbyterian church. The driveway was long, and so were the days of summer, when my sister and I would curl up together in the lazy boy and watch reruns of The Love Boat and The Price is Right. We did homework, got stuck on math lessons, and read book after book after book. We went to school dances, and were too shy to dance with the boys. We went to youth group. We skied Mammoth. We played lots and lots of Barbies. Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, and Care Bears made appearances, but Barbies dominated. We camped, went fishing, and roasted marshmallows. We told ghost stories. We ate chocolate chip cookie dough, and discovered bagels and cream cheese. We grew, our knees scabbed from crashing bicycles and our legs bruised from climbing trees.

My point?

This. Took. Forever.

Now?

My daughters are ten. TEN! They will be in middle school next year. They will grow into 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in the blink of an eye. They (may) get attitudes. They (will) hit puberty (and without Judy Blume's help!) They will have crushes on boys. They will be hurt by gossip, and betrayed by friends. They will make new friends. They will learn to let things go. They will fall in love and get their hearts broken and fall in love again. They will apply to college and suffer through standardized tests.

In my head, this is all happening like those fast-forward sequences in a movie.

So...

I need to pause a minute every once in a while and tell you about my daughter's freckles, or about the time my other daughter said "dilly dally" on the way to water polo practice. I need to tell you that it was only three seconds ago that the two of them were babies, one with a bald head, one with a pacifier, both with fiery attitudes and big belly laughs.

I need you to know that this isn't about your entertainment, but about me, stretching each moment between my fingers like taffy, pulling it longer and longer to see every bit of it before it goes away.

Thank you for understanding.

A Lovely Lady

2011-05-27T00:08:00.000-07:00

Grandma's 90th Birthday- (Not 2025!) :)

When Grandma, Gracie and I had tea at the Huntington Gardens.

The girls' third birthday. Grandma always loved being right in the middle of the fun.

Christmas 2008. Praying before dinner.

Grams and Megan.

One of my favorites. She was in her absolute glory in the picture!

Sassy little great-grandkids!

Grandma and almost all of her great grandkids. Such a precious picture.

Last year- trying on junk jewelry. I even decorated her head! :)

Having her own personal piano recital from Emma

Another VERY fond memrory- Grandma got really dressed up to come down the street to dinner.

Relaxing with Megan after our dinner

She adored ALL dogs- Sophie knew it!

Olivia knew it too!

One of her final visits with Auntie Anne. This was a good day.

With Danielle at my Master's Degree celebration

Gracie and Grandma on her last birthday

Both girls with Grams on her last birthday

Mom and Grandma with some of the gifts. Notice the Baileys!

I love her!

Kissing my hand after she gave me the ring

This cracks me up. She put her Bailey's in her walker.

Her final Christmas

Over Christmas break. Having some chamomile tea with me.

The infamous dalmatian robe and her wine

The gals and Grandma on their last visit. I'm so grateful they had this!

What a precious memory.

My Grandma Otti was a lovely lady in every way. She lived in Chicago as a young girl, and she used to drive her dad's cars around the city to run errands for him as early as twelve years old. Later, she moved to California after her family lost everything. They started out in the Pomona area, and later moved to San Diego. She raised my Uncle Tom and mom in a house in La Mesa on a street called Butterfly Lane. We visited the house last year, driving through the neighborhood where her children played. In the past year, Grandma had a better memory for things in the past than for things that happened a week ago. She told vivid stories about her parents, my grandpa's job at the hardware store, and her friends in the swim club. I asked Grandma recently what her favorite time of life was, and she said that it was being a mother to her kids when they were young. She was a true caregiver.

Grandma Otti's husband and my grandfather Tom died when I was in fifth grade, and it was from that point on that I felt a pull on my heart every time we would leave after a visit with Grandma Otti. I remember pulling out of her driveway while she waved and wondering if she was lonely, or if I would see her again. (I thought she was VERY old. Grandma had grey hair in her early 30's, so she looked like a grandma for a very long time. Little did I know she would live to meet my daughters and to know them as ten-year-olds!)

Grandma was definitely a lady of The Depression. She was very frugal with her money, always saying, "We'll make that." She didn't throw ANYTHING away...from toothpaste tubes to old curtains, the "treasures" in Grandma's house were a plenty! I remember her snatching my Raggedy Ann doll to "fix it" when I was about nine years old. I found the doll years later (in my 20s!) in a box in her garage when we were moving her out of her house. I teased her that she kidnapped dolls.

Grandma was known for loading kids up into the car and going on adventures. She could make a trip to KMart exciting! I used to look forward to riding the horse merry-go-round in the front of the grocery store. Grandma would also put up with frequent visits to the Barbie aisle, and although she didn't buy me Barbies, she always had a box of ancient dolls/plastic animals/blocks/books/toys/etc. to play with.

Grandma was a beach grandma. She taught me to make drip castles, to duck under body boards, to swim. She never forgot the sunscreen, and would make us wait at least 30 minutes to go in the water.

I loved visiting my grandma at her house in Poway. She had a white swing on her patio and a very big Bougainvillea bush next to the patio gate. She would teach us to water the trees and plants, to pull weeds, and to clip roses in her beautiful yard, but we never wanted to listen too long; we were anxious to go into the pool. Grandma usually let us go after having us complete a chore or teaching us a life lesson. She loved to teach us important aspects of life.

Grandma taught me to drive. I was overly-confident, and put the pedal to the metal. When this happened, she slapped me on the leg repeatedly until I slowed down. She was more upset at my speedy driving than when I accidentally crashed her Acura. (She had allowed me to drive to the mall in the rain, and I only had my learner's permit.) Although a worrier about some things, Grandma was never one to hold back on something that would teach you a lesson. Crashing the car after failing to understand a four-way stop was a definite lesson.

I loved sharing books with my Grandma. Before she lost her eyesight, she was an avid reader. She and I would read the same books and talk about them. We liked the same kind of movies as well. She took me to see Dead Poet's Society in the theater and we both cried like babies when it was over.

Grandma drove longer than she should have. She used to pull up to the front of my house in Ocean Beach and hit the neighbor's car, back into our trash cans, and then deny she did either of those things. She had a knack for exaggeration. I remember her telling her friends that my family had a "summer home" in the mountains (which was really a fifth wheel trailer), and I would be horribly embarrassed because I hated to be considered "rich."

Grandma loved to cook. She made pot roast, mashed potatoes, and coconut cake. She loved making poached eggs on toast for any hungry grandchildren in the morning. Her kitchen was filled with the most beautiful, tiny dishes and plates. She would NEVER serve you something out of its original container. Instead, she would put it into a fancy dish with a tiny spoon. Ketchup? Fancy dish. Sugar? Fancy dish.

My grandma loved Dalmatians, the color purple, Oprah, Dr. Phil, wine, and candy. She was often scared that the great grandkids would swipe her candy, so she would hide it in her dresser drawers or her bookshelf, but then forget where she'd put it. There were many stale candies found years after they'd been safely hidden.

My grandma had many quirky sayings, like "Bingle Bangle Boom" and "It's the Dickens." If she wanted a piece of something, she would say, "Give me a 'hunk' of that." She liked to try pieces of things but pretend she wasn't going to eat the whole thing, so she would "test" See's Candy or a dozen donuts by picking bits off each one and leaving the rest.

On my Grandma's final birthday, she gave me a beautiful gift. She had recently hurt her hand falling, and her ring finger was sore. She could no longer wear her wedding ring, and she knew that I loved the ring more than anything. She gave me her ring, and I didn't even need to have it fitted. It is a perfect fit! I now look at it as a reminder of how much I loved my grandma, and how important family is in our lives.

I adored my grandma and will never, ever forget what a wonderful grandma she was. I hope to be just that sort of grandma. I will most likely be stubborn. I will probably exaggerate. I will definitely make up weird sayings. I will very likely pick at sweets like donuts and chocolate, and hide them from my grandkids. Most importantly, I will love my family deeply. I will teach them all that I know. I will give them my time, attention, and wisdom. I will do this in honor of my grandma, who showered me with love.

Spring Break Wills and Will Nots

2011-04-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

It is supposed to be spring. The weather disagrees. It hailed here today! I just turned on the HEATER. :(

I am on a break from school for the next two weeks.

I Will:

sleep in
read (the pile of books on my nightstand is becoming treacherous.)
cook....something
visit the ranch- our birds live up at Gidget's now, so we have all kinds of animals to see
chill
veg
catch up on TIVO shows and watch a movie or two on instant Netflix
exercise (Jillian Michaels tapes! Woo hoo)
do "Where I'm From" poems with my gals. I'm interested to see what theirs will be like
tell my husband how sweet and handsome he is
paint the kitchen mocha
hold the pugs, pet the cats, make voices for all of them...
figure out my new computer gadget. It's some kind of pen that transcribes handwriting onto the computer. I won it at the CADA conference.
visit with Grandma Otti
(cough) grade papers so my life won't be insane when I return to school
brew tea/drink tea
take naps
get crafty
read out loud to my girls

I Won't:

get up before 8:30/9:00
make plans that I don't REALLY want to do just because I don't want to say no
eat Jeff Smith's delicious unhealthy treats that lay about tempting me to devour them
get upset when I see my birds at the ranch (they had to move out due to my daughter's allergies)
write blog posts about the daughter I mentioned above because she likes her privacy
spend too much time on Facebook or the computer
spend too much time lesson planning for the last 6 weeks of school (even though I'm stressing about how to fit the rest in with 6 weeks left)
spend too much time fretting over the number of days I have left of my break
watch mindless television just because it is on
worry. "Consider the lilies..."
complain
take out my i-phone when there is a real human being in front of me

Poetic Food Chain

2011-04-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

Learned about the mountain food chain from my daughter today:

The sun gives the mustard plant energy,
The gopher eats the mustard plant,
The weasel eats the gopher,
...The mountain lion eats the weasel,
...The mountain lion dies...then decomposes...
and it all starts again.
The sun is the most important, or there is no food chain.

Now that is poetry.

I'm in TROUBLE

2011-03-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

One of my darling daughters-I'm not saying which one- is upset that I write about her on Facebook. (I don't even KNOW what she'll say when she remembers this blog!) She does not appreciate me sharing stories about her, even among friends. She said she does NOT appreciate my posts. Her life is HER business.

I told her that I love sharing stories about her. (I realize that this sounds selfish.)

I told her that I would never share things that would humiliate her. (Now that she's ten...when she was little, I did share about mermaids in the tub, Tom Men, and having a "dent." See previous blogs for further explanations.)

I told her that the world loves to hear the intelligent, funny, adorable, quirky things she says.

She gave me the eyeroll.

"Please!" I begged. "How can I write about just one of you?"

We came up with an agreement. I will let her read and approve the post before "putting it out there."

I honor that. I would want the same thing from someone writing about me. I feel like we've just taken a giant step toward Teenage-land, but she's only ten!

I will keep my end of the agreement. I will NOT post anything about her on Facebook without her approval, even though writing is what I do. I will be consciencious toward her feelings.

Essentially, I now have an editor. A ten-year-old editor. I feel her gaze on every word I type.

How do newspaper columnists write about their families or their world without getting into trouble?

What about people who write novels that are "entirely fiction"?

NOT writing about my family (including this daughter) is like not using my arms for the day. Writing about the people I love is what I DO.

So I will go forward, cautiously writing tidbits that are probably meaningless to most of the world, all the while knowing that they mean everything to my ten-year-old editor who hopes to keep a shred of privacy and dignity despite having a mother whose life is like a coffee table book of art, open for the world to see.

The Circle of Life

2011-03-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

Emma and I were scrolling through the television, looking for shows that would be interesting, and nothing good was on. We ended up on a show about animals. The screen showed a big, white goose chasing a very small fox.

"Oh!" I said, "look at the adorable goose!"

"What's she doing?" asked Emma. "Oh HOW CUTE! She's chasing that little fox. What a bossy goose!"

"Too funny," I agreed, when all of a sudden, the camera zoomed in and I realized why the goose was chasing the fox. The fox had a baby gosling in his mouth. The baby was STILL ALIVE, squaking, and the mama goose was running after the fox to get her baby.

My fingers fumbled on the remote. I tried to change the channel, but couldn't make the evil image go away. My fingers seemed to get wider and more awkward in their panic. I shouted with terror. "AWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRGGGGG!!!"

Finally the screen darkened.

My daughter and I just looked at each other with wide eyes. Her lower lip began to tremble. Suddenly, she whispered, "Why does stuff like that ALWAYS have to happen to us?"

And we both started to laugh. Loudly. We stared at each other, crying and then laughing, and then snorting and laughing.

"I guess that's the circle of life," Emma mustered.

Yes. The circle of life. The moments you adore. The moments you abhor. The moments in between. The fox and the goose. The fumble. The tears and laughter...and the moments that allow for both.

It's all soooo worth it.

These Have I Hated...

2011-03-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

hairy spiders (sorry, Charlotte!)
walnuts
half-melted, dirty snow
being cold
hangnails
apathy
pills that get stuck in your throat
sweaters that are wet from the washing machine, and that feeling you get when you pick one up
headaches
mold on veggies that you JUST bought
foot cramps
p.e.
kitty litter boxes
early morning meetings/appointments/anything
flat bike tires
tetherball
microwaved frozen meals
the jeopardy song
slimy talk show hosts who provoke fights
morning breath
itches
neglect
the word "x-mas"
grammar errors

True Love

2011-02-23T20:31:00.000-08:00

The husband is buried here, and the wife's name is on the gravestone without any date of death. We saw this on Valentine's day...I'm assuming the wife left these flowers for her husband.

These Have I Loved...

2011-02-23T20:19:00.000-08:00

banana pancakes

pug snores

MAC (computers AND makeup)

letters (the old fashioned kind)

Jello Cook and Serve Chocolate Pudding

roller skates (the old-school kind)

Dylan Thomas

used book stores

metaphors

warm vanilla scented Candles

magazines

newly sharpened pencils

three-day weekends

semicolons

hazelnut lattes

American history

lilacs

The Central Coast

pumpkin pie

horse muzzles 

bedtime herbal tea

tiny sandwiches

Clinique perfume

ballet flats

Anne Taylor Loft

hot, hot baths

naps

research

maps (including Google map!)

typing really fast

The Gaslamp in San Diego 

sleeping in

Scrabble

cat whiskers

lavendar

red wine

theaters (for acting)

going out to breakfast

Edna St. Vincent Millay

"how you met" stories

Huntington Gardens

sonnets

scones

...to be discovered continuously...

Piggy Tails and Whoopie Pies

2011-02-08T20:25:00.000-08:00

All dressed up and nowhere to go!

The lunch lady getting ready to go out on the town.

My girl Gracie making Valentine's whoopie pies

Fancy mix

Claire Bear didn't help make pies, but posed in the apron. :)

I'm busy Mama! Take the picture already!

As usual, they wait for accidental dropping

The finished product...yum!

A Trip

2011-01-29T15:39:00.000-08:00

Me, sometime in the 1970's (look at the pic on the left)

Grace, 2006

Me, October 1979 or 80?

Emma, November 2010

Like mother, like daughter(s)!

Testimony

2011-01-29T15:28:00.000-08:00

I see the divine in my life.

I see it in Jeff's garden, the artichoke plant pushing its way up through the soil, trying its best to become an artichoke.

I see it in the tiny acorns the girls found on our hike.

I see it in every one of Grace's freckles.

I see it in Emma's ability to lift one eyebrow to give me that silly look which ends with both of us laughing.

I see it in the wrinkles of a pug's face, etched with perfection, down to the beauty mark on the side.

I hear it in music- from Emma's clumsy, determined piano playing to the vibrations from Jeff's I-pod as he cooks in the kitchen.

Blessed, blessed, blessed I am.

I love sharing that little moment with God, where I pause and smile, barely believing He knew me so well that he was able to give me my heart's desire with this sweet family.

Hope for the Future

2011-01-24T09:18:00.000-08:00

These are quotes my students used in their "This I Believe" essays for my class. :)

"I believe that without self confidence and desire, success does not exist." -Christian Pamlenyi

"I believe that if you have the will and the determination, you can achieve anything." - Jakob Thomas

"I believe that sometimes we want life to act like a video game, but in life there is no pause menu, no 'revert to last save' option, or respawning five seconds after dying." -Kenton Kristell

"I believe everything happens for a reason." -Krista Phillips

"People can tell the type of person you are from how you look." -Jace Clark

"I believe that our diversity is what unites us." -Brooke Villalobos

"I believe you can be your own teddy bear." -Rachel Nelson

"I believe no one can shape who you are but yourself." -Rachel Ruhlman

"I believe in freedom." -Ricky Orellano

"I believe money can't buy happiness." - Lexie Hernandez

"Sports have more to offer than meets the eye." -Nathanial Dillon

" Do not tell me who I can and cannot be. I am my own man. I will be who I want to be." Clayton Willis

Weirdness...A Confession

2010-12-26T20:37:00.001-08:00

It is my belief that we all have touch of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I realize that some people are debilitated by it, and I'm not talking about that degree of the disorder. I'm talking about the weird little habits we have...our own little rituals to even the balance of this crazy world.

Minor clean freak stuff doesn't count. I admit, I don't touch doorknobs or shopping carts with my hands. I use a paper towel on the door and a wipe for the cart. There must be millions of people who feel this way about germs because they have trash cans by the bathroom doors now and wipes for the cart almost everywhere you go. Logically, this doesn't make sense. I spent most of my childhood not caring about germs at all. I remember being at Disneyland as a small child and my mom telling me to remove my chin from where it was resting on the metal fence near where you wait in line. I didn't see the problem with resting my chin there. Heck...I may have even licked the fence without a problem. (I didn't...) It didn't matter that thousands of germy people touched that fence on a daily basis. I had no fear of germs.

But germ awareness is not what I'm talking about. No, no, no. I'm talking about my weird obsessive compulsive habit of "unwinding." How does this work? If I turn around to look at something, I feel the need to unwind by turning back the way I came. I don't like turning in a complete circle because I feel like I'm out of balance...like I've wound up and need to go back to "zero." It's hard to explain because it's WEIRD. I admit it!

Another example of my OCD? I have an aversion to odd years. I don't like them as much as even years. I liked 2010 because it was an EVEN year. This weird belief doesn't really hold up because some of the most beautiful things in my life have happened to me during odd years. The girls were born in 2001. I was married in 1995. Both were good odd years. But I still prefer even years. I was born in 1972. I graduated from high school in 1990. Those were good years too! Nothing about this weirdness makes sense.

One more weird confession...and I don't know if you can call it OCD. It's probably just odd...I tend to think of numbers and silverware as male or female. Number 3? Male. Number 9? Female. With silverware, I think the weirdness stems from the way I remember how to set the table. The fork (a male) goes on the left side of the plate. He is in love with the spoon (a female) who is being held hostage on the right side of the plate by the knife (a male), who insists on being between the fork and the spoon. The knife's sharp edge is pointed toward the fork.

Weirdo! Strange, strange, strange.

But I know others have crazy OCD/Weird/Strangeness. If you relate, leave a comment. It will feel good to get it off your chest. I won't laugh at you...promise. :)

Sharing the Harvest

2010-11-21T08:51:00.000-08:00

Rice on the face...

More rice victims.

Water squiring was Emma's favorite job.

People lining up for boxes of food, all donated by the school and the community.

Our amazing culinary students serving the food they prepared. (Isn't our cafeteria lovely?)

The turkey carvers. :)

My girls and me...sharing the harvest! :)

The booth. The kids with their backs to us have rice all over their faces.

I haven't updated my blog about work lately. After a year of teaching middle school, I realized that my heart was truly dedicated to high school students. They are my "peeps." I had a lot of fun with my 8th graders last year, but decided to go back to high school. I transferred to the new high school in my community. It is a breathtakingly beautiful facility, full of innovative ideas and a sense of community. Yesterday, that was made evident through our school's second annual "Share the Harvest" festival. Through donations, our school fed a full Thanksgiving dinner to hundreds of families. In addition, we gave turkeys and boxes of food to the families, and had a room in our gym full of carnival-style games and jumpies for the kids. As the co-advisor for the class of 2014, I was there all day with my girls. Our booth was called "Get the rice off your face using only your face." Our sweet freshmen were there all day, volunteering their time. More importantly, my girls were able to see how good it feels to give of your time. They left the event feeling grateful for all they have, knowing that for many of the families who attended the event, this was the only Thanksgiving meal they would have.

Our hearts were filled with Thanksgiving! :)

Twins, Pets, and a Camera

2010-08-11T22:29:00.001-07:00

We have the most tolerant pets in the universe. Actually, some of them seem to like playing dress up in the girls' Build a Bear clothes.

I found proof of this when the girls confiscated my camera and had a pet fashion shoot.

I'm pretty sure the pictures speak for themselves.

Moments

2010-08-04T11:39:00.001-07:00

There are a thousand moments in any given day that I want to write down so I don't forget them.

Alas, the day gets busy, and by the time I settle my tired bones at night, the adorable moments have flown out of my memory. Yesterday, I swore I would write some of them down. That's what blogs are for, after all!

Moment 1-

Grace got REALLY frustrated with Emma and told me she wanted to SELL her.

"Where would we sell her?" I asked.

"To farmers!" Grace cried. "They could use her. She likes animals and would work hard."

Moments later, they were playing wonderfully together, and all thoughts of farmers were forgotten.

Moment 2-

Emma and Grace told me that their friend Shane up the street likes to play with them more than the other neighborhood kids because they have "imagination"- something the other kids lack.

"You have to have a lot of imagination to play on our cul-de-sac," said Emma seriously. "We have bikes and scooters, but that's about it. We make believe a lot."

Moment 3-

The girls have been sleeping in my bed this week since Jeff is gone on a four-wheel-drive trip. We have had crazy girls times, including "littlehood" stories, philosophical discussions, and fits of giggles. They have been arguing over who will sleep closest to me. We've watched movies, read books, and scratched backs. I am in Heaven. I think about how much I wanted a little girl, and God gave me TWO. He doubled my heart's desire. He's fancy that way!

Moment 4-
We went 4th grade shopping. (Gasp...my little ladies are going to be in 4th grade!) We bought rolling backpacks, binders, folders, markers, highlighters, pencils, correcting pens, and crayons. I don't think I ever had to buy so many school supplies growing up. The school provided them. But this year, the school gave us a fourth grade list, and we followed it to a T. There is something about school supplies that makes me very happy, even if it is only August. (We go back so dang early here!) I love the smell of a box of new pencils. I love the fresh, clean look of a new back pack and lunch bag. I realize that in a month, everything will have a dirty grunge to it. The lunch bag will be stained with food, the back pack will have a greyish grime around the edges, the erasers on the pencil will we worn down by miswritten math problems. I like things right now- new, and shiny, and perfect. Organized! It reminds me of the feeling after you've cleaned your house, and everything just FEELS right. Then that goes away and you have to start all over again. Back to school....ahhhh....I remember my mom scrubbing every inch of our bodies before that first day. She trimmed our nails, cleaned our ears, and put lemon and vinegar on our hair to take the green chlorine stains out of it. It was the cleanest we were all year.

L.O.V.E.

2010-07-27T23:00:00.001-07:00

This guy still makes my heart pitter patter...especially when he looks beachy like this. I love the way his eyes get crinkly on the sides. They get more crinkly as the years go by.

What I like about him...

He looks at me as though he is absolutely in love with me...after 17 years of being together almost non-stop.

He is eternally patient, through hectic mornings, chore days, fighting twins, and even (gasp!) PMS.

He has the most wonderful sense of humor.

He is handy. He just redid my closet floor. He builds bookshelves, tv consoles, and love seats. He cuts and hangs crown moulding and bead board perfectly. He paints, installs wood floors, fixes cars, and installs water softeners. If he doesn't know how to do it, he'll figure it out.

He has a green thumb. He makes EVERYTHING grow, bringing home almost dead plants and nursing them back to life. He keeps a garden and recently grew tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, cilantro, asparagus, and watermelon.

He unclogs toilets, cleans up cat puke, and does the dog poop duty without EVER complaining. He also kills big, ugly spiders.

He is the most magnificent, fun dad ever. He builds snow forts, puts up tents for camping, makes a perfect smore, and never complains about blanket forts in his living room.

When I watch him walk by, or see him with my girls, I still have some of that "take my breath away" love that I had for him in 1989 when he sat in front of me in 11th grade history, or in 1993 when we reconnected, or in 1995 when we said "I Do" or in 1999 when we danced to Dick Dale's surf guitar on New Year's Eve, or in 2001 when our sweet girls were born.

Overall, I like him better now than I did 17 years ago when he came to my door, taller and older than his high-school self. I am so glad we found each other on this big old planet. I think God put magnets in our souls. :) (Sorry...a bit of my 17-year-old self comes out when I think about him sometimes, and I begin to over-romanticize.)

A GRAND Evening

2010-07-27T21:14:00.001-07:00

Tonight was truly memorable. A GRAND evening. All because of three sweet girls and a 93-year-old woman.

This summer, my grandma Ottilee has been very, very ill. She has declined quite a bit in the last few years, but over this past summer, she has rarely gotten out of bed. There have been times over the past week where I've been sitting right next to her and she didn't know who I was. She's called my mom "Mary" or "Mom" and has seen people in her closet. She has even thought I was on a boat in the pool in the back yard. As of two weeks ago, her nurses suspected she was bleeding internally and we didn't think she would live longer than a week. (Her hospice nurse told us to give her broth and morphine and make her as comfortable as possible.)

Well, one thing I know about my grandma...she rallies. She is a fighter.

My mom has a caregiver come to spend time with my grandma during the day, and my mom and dad are usually with her at night. My mom had a doctor's appointment out of town and asked if I would give Grandma dinner and hang out with her. I told my mom that wasn't a problem, and then I told my grandma that I would be "babysitting her" the next day.

Grandma got mixed up, and thought I had asked her to my house for dinner. My mom told her, "No, Dawn is going to come up and feed you dinner."

"NO!" my grandma insisted. "Dawn would like me to come to her house." She put on her fanciest purple outfit and asked her caregiver to curl her hair. This is even more adorable because my house is four houses down from my mom's house. Grandma was getting gussied up to go down the block. :)

Megan is staying with us right now while her parents are camping (she has dance practice in town), so Megan, the girls and I went to the store and bought all of the food that Grandma likes- chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, and salad. On the way home from the store, Megan called Grandma to tell her that we were on our way to pick her up. (She can't walk four houses down to my house.) Grandma said she was ready, but asked, "Should I put on my bra?"

Megan replied, "Ummm....Yeah....probably..." and hung up the phone, cracking up. When we got to her house, I said, "Grandma, if you don't want to wear a bra, you don't have to..." to which she snapped, "What are you talking about?" and looked at us, puzzled. Megan and I looked at each other and shrugged.

It took about 20 minutes to get her into the car, down the street, out of the car, and into my house.

It took Grandma so long to get into the house that the screen door shut behind her while I was trying to block the dogs from getting out. "That door just hit my bottom!" she yelled, smiling.

We escorted her inside, and Emma asked to play the piano for her. Grandma sat next to the piano for her very own recital.

In the meantime, Megan and I put all of the food out to make it look fancy. Grandma likes to eat from a formal table setting, so we stuck the rotisserie chicken on a platter, and scooped the microwave mashed potatoes onto plates.

Once we sat down to eat, Grandma was in Heaven.

"You must have worked on this meal ALL DAY," she said.

"Why, yes!" we agreed, trying not to laugh. Emma looked guiltily in my direction, and I winked at her.

During dinner, we used our "table topic" box to pick some things to talk about. One of the questions was, "Would you rather spend one week in the future or one week in the past?"

Grandma said she would like to go to the past, back to when her kids were babies. My heart melted when she said that. I could imagine her a young mother, and I knew somewhere in her heart she still feels that way.

Toward the end of dinner, some neighborhood kids stopped by to give Emma and Grace these punching bag balloons they bought for them. Grace immediately blew hers up and began batting it around the table. To all of our surprise, when the balloon headed toward Grandma, she stuck her palm in the air and spiked it defiantly back to Grace. I thought I would never stop laughing.

After dinner, she hung out on the couch with Megan and the girls chatting and catching up.

After a while, she turned to the girls and said, "Bring me a puppy!" The girls brought her Sophie, and soon Olivia followed. The pugs know an animal lover when they see one.

Alas, it was the end of the party for Grandma, who tires easily. I took her home, and as I was getting her out of the car, one of the neighborhood girls ran into my parents' driveway and yelled, "She's OLD, right?"

Before I could say a word, Grandma answered, "Yes...VERY old!" and she gave her cane a little thump on the ground defiantly.

9 Things

2010-05-24T17:17:00.001-07:00

9 Things About Emma at 9 years old

1) Emma's voice gets soft and low whenever she answers the phone or tells you something serious. It's a very soothing, smooth, sweet, deep voice. I love it! When she worries, she also gets these dimple marks above her eyes, which we call her "Power Points."

2) Emma is OCD about schoolwork. If the teacher tells her to read 15 pages, she reads 15 pages. She takes no shortcuts, and she would NEVER pretend to read more than she actually did. Sometimes, Emma has a near melt down when she forgets something (like her homework folder in my classroom.) Her worst fear is to "go down on the chart"- she has yet to do that.

3) Emma loves ponytails. She has very long hair at this point, but nobody ever sees it, because she ties it back into a pony every morning. She puts a little barrette in her bangs as well, so they'll stay out of her eyes.

4) Emma is thoughtful. If I am sick, she asks me if I need water. She worries about how other people feel.

5) Emma adores chocolate milk. The more Hershey's syrup, the better.

6) Having Emma around is like have another mother in the house. She reminds me not to leave the fridge open, and tells me not to talk on my phone in the car. "Look at the road, Mama!" She tells her sister not to forget her dance bag "so Mom doesn't have to stop at the house after school."

7) Schoolwork comes very easily to Emma. She excels in almost everything, but when something doesn't come easily, she gets extremely frustrated! She has no patience for the struggle.

8) Emma is obsessed with Harry Potter. She is on Book 3. She cried when Buckbeak died. She would like to drink butter beer and own a wand.

9) Emma takes piano lessons and has a natural talent for tinkering around on the piano. She would like to join the girl scouts as well. (We're on the call list!) She loves to ride her pony. She doesn't care if it is cute, or popular, or "cool"- she wants to do what she wants to do. She is her own girl.

9 Things About Grace at 9

1) Grace is going through a "grunge" period. She hates to do ANYTHING with her hair. She likes her sideways bangs lightly grazing her eyes. She likes to wear rippy jeans and big t-shirts. She HATES pink. Poor Grace- her room is pink!

2) Grace is funny. She does voices for all of the dogs. She has a whole routine for Sophie called "The Lunchlady." She has voices for the birds. She wants them to get married and have a baby named Brucie. She is always thinking of new situations for our household pets. She thinks Poe the cat is a veejay in his spare time--that he scratches records and wears his hat sideways.

3) Grace gets grouchy easily. It has everything to do with her blood sugar. She gets a wrinkle between her eyebrows when she's upset, and she holds a grudge for a long time. You have to feed her, hug her, and tickle her (in that order) for her to snap out of it.

4) Grace is the most limber human being I've ever met. She can do the full splits (either way), put her leg in the air (by her head) and hold it there, and bend all over the place. This makes her a beautiful, graceful (no pun intended) dancer.

5) Grace will stick up for the defenseless. She is very well-liked at school, and when she sees an injustice, she will speak up. If someone is picking on a kid, she will befriend that kid. I love this about Gracie.

6) Grace is sometimes careless with her schoolwork. She likes to get it over with so she can rollerblade outside, ride her bike, dance, or play. She is capable of beautiful work, but often doesn't use her talent for scholastic things.

7) Grace has very long dreams. She remembers them each morning, and tells them to me on the way to school. :) Did I mention she has lonnnnnnng dreams?

8) Gracie loves Soup Plantation. She would eat there every day if she could. She is a strict vegetarian- she NEVER eats meat. She also doesn't like milk, peanut butter, nuts, etc. This makes feeding her VERY challenging (especially since she is apt to get so grouchy when her blood sugar gets low.)

9) Grace is a snuggle bug. When she's tired, she lays with me and calls me "MYYYY Mommy." She is very affectionate. I will be sad when she stops doing this!

Well, those are nine things about each of my lovely nine-year-old girls. I adore each of them--so unique and beautiful in their own way. I am lucky to be their mother. This makes me wonder...what are nine things my girls would say about me?

Another blog, perhaps.

Master's Class

2010-01-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

I am officially 3/4 of the way done getting my Master's degree in Education with an emphasis on art integration. I haven't talked about it at all on my blog, so here goes.

I am currently taking a class on storytelling. This has been so cool. I'm learning how to incorporate storytelling into my lessons. For example, students could do a book report by telling a story from their book through the point of view of one of the characters. I could introduce a book by telling a story from the first chapter to get them "into" the character.

Last weekend, we had to tell our story to the class. Summing up our life story in 15-20 minutes is quite interesting. What do you keep? What is important? Boiled down, what are the moments of your life worth sharing? My life story came down to Bishop, Jeff Smith, and my girls (the journey to get to parenthood). Teaching would have been part of it too, but since everyone in my class teaches, I didn't feel the need to share that part.

This weekend, we are telling stories that we can use in the classroom. Since I am planning to teach Farewell to Manzanar to my advanced language arts classes, I am going to "become" Jeanne Wakatsuki Housten and tell the story of her family being moved from Long Beach to Manzanar. I am very interested in Manzanar, mostly because I grew up less than an hour away from it and never learned about it in school. I love the book's descriptions of the Sierras and the Owens valley- a shock to a family from the ocean in Long Beach. The barracks they lived in had slats in the wood siding, and every night the winds would pick up, and the cold desert air would blow sand all over their bedding and belongings. I can't imagine living like that. They ended up working hard to make Manzanar HOME, using anything they could find to weatherstrip their barracks, planting fruit trees and gardens in the harsh desert soil. They created baseball teams, school yearbooks, and glee clubs. They made beauty out of what they were given, and that is the part of the story that inspires me. If only everyone on earth could do that!

Back to my Masters- My classes so far: Art Integration, Visual Art, Drama, Movement, Poetry, Computer Arts, Assessment and now Storytelling. After this I have Music, Arts and Culture in Community, and my Thesis Class, and I'll be done. I really wish I could go to Boston for graduation. It will depend on money, timing, etc.

Overall, the experience has been more work than I ever anticipated, but highly worth it. I've come out of class each weekend with fabulous ideas for activities and lessons, and have used my students as guinea pigs several times (with mixed results...but they agree that it's fun to try, even when a lesson doesn't work out as planned.) Overall, it's been worth it!

Cooking with Pioneer Woman

2009-11-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

Much thanks to my friend Stephanie for introducing me to The Pioneer Woman. I LOVE The Pioneer Woman and always keep up with her blog: (http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/), about her kids, her dogs, her horses, her love story, and her cooking. She is hilarious-someone my friends and I would totally hang out with. :) Yesterday, I bought her cookbook. Since Jeff was going on an overnight Jeep trip, the girls and I had plenty of time to mess up the kitchen and lick spatulas. (Two of our favorite things to do.)

I let Grace pick a recipe first. She chose Pioneer Woman's red velvet cake. What can I say? My girl likes fancy food! First, we went out and bought lots of ingredients and two nine-inch cake pans. (I can't believe I didn't have nine-inch cake pans!)
These ingredients are also for several Thanksgiving recipes...in case you were wondering. :)

Next, we spread everything out. Grace washed the cake pans. We measured, sifted, stirred, mixed...did I mention sifted?... pinched, sifted...there was a lot of sifting to do with this recipe, and let's just say that our sifter wasn't quite up to par. Luckily, Emma seemed to have a knack for sifting. That is...until she missed the bowl and siffted some powdered sugar right on top of Sophie's back. (When you cook in the Smith house, there are always several pugs underfoot waiting for any morsel, crumb, or tidbit to fall. They are greedy beasts indeed!)

We baked our two nine-inch red velvet cakes, mixed the frosting, stacked and frosted them, and...voila!

Today, we had the taste tester of all taste testers, Grandma Otti, over to eat it. It earned a stamp of approval from Grandma, who loves all things sweet, buttery, rich, and caloric.

Next recipe- Emma has selected Pioneer Woman's Angel Cookies. We are very excited to begin another kitchen adventure!

Every Moment

2009-11-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

"Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity." -Henry Van Dyke (1852-1953)

My Bed

2009-09-13T11:45:00.001-07:00

From left: Kid leg, art papers, fat pug, laundry, and pillows.

Clockwise from top left- Emma, Poe, Gus, Sophie, and Olivia

My feet- somehow they ended up with laundry on them. I think one of the girls moved a pile in order to fit between the various animals.

Same crew, better view.

As I angle over, you can spot Grace at the far left, along with all her stencils and pencils. Notice how Olivia takes up the most room on the bed.

From left: Grace, Emma, and Olivia

My bed is a place of both comfort and chaos. Last night this was completely evident. I sat down on my bed to fold and pile laundry. I always do this on my bed because it's a California King (Jeff is very tall!) and I have plenty of room to sort and fold.

Soon, I was joined by Olivia, who likes to sprawl out in the most inconvenient places, like on top of piles of clean clothes, or half way on a pile of papers I'm about to grade.

Later, Grace came in with her new art book. It's got stencils and faces, and you decorate each face with different hairstyles and makeup. Grace needed plenty of room for her colored pencils, stencils, and papers.

Then Sophie (Aka Fat Piggy) wanted up. Jeff calls me a pug enabler because truthfully, Sophie could never get up onto the bed if I didn't help lift her fat buns. But I always lift her because otherwise she whines next to my side and drives me crazy. Besides, she's awfully snugly when the weather cools off. There's nothing like a chubby pug for warmth when your feet are cold.

Emma decided to join us, and proceeded to stencil with Grace. I finished my folding and got out my laptop to check Facebook. I looked down at my bed, and noticed the menagerie had grown. The two cats had joined us as well. They were sprawled out near the bottom of the bed amidst the piles of clothes and colored pencils.

There was no more room for Jeff or Ace in the bed. Ace doesn't want to be on the bed- thank God- because he's old and crusty and smells like a trash bin. Jeff- well he was busy on the computer and in the kitchen, so he didn't notice that his domain had been taken over.

I'm glad I got the camera and snapped several photos of the scene. Someday I know I'll miss this- kids will grow and leave home, pets will get older and pass on. Jeff and I will have the giant California King to ourselves. There won't be as much laundry. It will be comfort WITHOUT the chaos, but I will miss the chaos so much.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2009-08-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

The big third graders in front of their classroom.
Don't you just love their braids?

Grace HAD to photograph her cool new backpack.

Grace in my classroom before we walked over to their school.

Emma in my room the first day. You can see my new teacher friend, Carol, in the background, looking for Shakespeare stuff to borrow. She likes Shakespeare as much as I do!

Grace took this picture of me on the first day. The air conditioning was out for 3/4 of the day, and I was already getting sweaty....ewww!

The girls on the day before school started with their fun pillows and my laptop set up for movies.

Hello, Long Lost Blog!

I must say that I've truly neglected this blog over the summer. What was I doing instead?

Well...first, I was preparing to teach a new grade level at a new school, so moving, reading, and planning took up a lot of time. Next, I was working on my Arts and Technology class- the Master's class that happened to fall over the summer. I learned a lot, but BOY it was a lot of work. One of the projects required me to interview someone about a technology that changed his or her life, and I chose to interview Grandma Otti (of course.) I put together a very cool multi-media presentation about Grandma that I will treasure for years, but it was a lot of work. To top it off, the class required me to write a lot of papers, most of which included research. Yikes! The final thing that kept me busy this summer was my family, of course. I really felt like I took the summer to enjoy them. We swam. We went to the beach. We hung out with friends. We went whale watching. We enjoyed every minute with each other.

And now, it's early August, and we've already started school. I chose to move to a new middle school in our district for a variety of reasons. The most important reason? I'm able to take my girls with me to school every day. Their school is on the same campus as mine, so I bring them with me and then they walk over. That has been AMAZING. I love our conversations in the morning, and our drive to school is filled with fun sites to behold- mules, goats, cows, and horses. Our new school looks like it is plopped down right next to Ma and Pa Ingalls' Little House on the Praire. In fact, all last week, there was a herd of sheep and a shepherd in the field next to the school. Each morning the girls stuck their heads out of the window and yelled, "Bahhhhh!!!" Grace asked why the shepherd didn't have a cane and a robe. (I thought that was pretty cute.)

I have a cabinet in my new room just for the girls. They have body pillows to lay on, blankets, toys, and games. They are SET. The vibe at my new school is really that kids are welcome. The principal is really nice and doesn't care if the kids are around on their early out days, or if they are in my room during a meeting, etc. In fact, there are teacher's kids all over the school. That's SO nice.

Middle school is new for me. 8th graders have a streek of silliness that most high schoolers have either outgrown or carefully hidden. 8th graders are squiggly...goofy. They make me laugh. I have probably laughed more in the last three days of teaching than I have in a while, which is good. Still, I am a bit homesick for my friends and students at the high school. We're making it a point to get together as much as possible. Grace and Emma have also had moments of missing their old school, teachers, and friends, but we're all adjusting, and I know it will get easier every day.

Another reason I moved to my new school is that it is the "visual/performing arts" focus school in our district. Although it isn't a charter school, it is a school of choice, which means any student from in or out of our district can apply to got there. Since my Master's degree is in Integrated Arts Education, the fit was obvious. I can't wait to start integrating the arts into my lessons. :)

The pictures above should give you a little glimpse of our first day of school. The girls took the pictures of each other (and of me) in my classroom, and then I took the pictures of my wonderful BIG third graders who I was able to walk to school for their first day (for the first time since Kindergarten!)

So far, change is good.

Why Shakespeare's Violets?

2009-06-29T00:42:00.000-07:00

I've had a few people ask me why I named my blog "Shakespeare's Violets."

It started when I went to Huntington Gardens years ago and walked through the Shakespeare Garden, where one group of flowers displayed was Shakespeare's Violets. I always loved the way those words rolled off my tongue...Shakespeare's Violets.

My daughters remind me of little violets, with their bright faces staring up at me. :)

Later, I decided to post some things online anonymously and ended up using the name Shakespeare's Violets.

I remember reading Shakespeare in my 9th grade English class and telling my teacher, Ms. Nelson, that I didn't understand a word he was saying. Instead of becoming frustrated with me, Ms. Nelson suggested that I see a live performance, and I ended up on a field trip of high school students on a bus headed for Los Angeles. We went to see a college production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. They had modernized the costumes but kept the original language. That's all I remember about the actual play- that and a very cute boy on the bus that I had a huge crush on who didn't know I existed. However, I do know I came back with an absolute love of Shakespeare's language. Bless Ms. Nelson for not giving up on me!

From Ophelia, chanting "...Rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember; then there's pansies, that's for thoughts..." to the bank of flowers where Titania sleeps, Shakespeare's writing shows that he knew a thing or two about flowers. This knowledge shows he was close to nature, as any artist should be. "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." He not only noticed the details in the world outside, but was an expert on human nature as well.

"False face must hide what the false heart must know."

"Poor and content is rich, and rich enough."

"Suit the action to the word, and the word to the action."

"Lord, what fools these mortals be."

...and one of my favorites, "We are such stuff as dreams are made on/and our little life is rounded with a sleep."

Goodnight!

More Mermaids in the Tub (also known as "More Tub Talk with Emma and Grace")

2009-06-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

Emma: How bout my mermaid's name is Aquamarine and yours is Lulu? ...and how bout we're driving to school? And I have a pet catfish?

Grace: How bout I'm a teacher right now? (In teacher voice...) "NO CATFISH AT SCHOOL!" ....How bout I slammed the door on your catfish?

Emma: Oh no! Oh no! My catfish! He's bleeding! Catfish!!!!

Grace: How bout I'm a mermaid, and the teacher didn't want a bunch of people following me around, so she made me sit right there....(in singing voice)- I want to be a nor-mal girl. A nor-mal girl.

Emma: How bout we got a new teacher named Miss Seaweed?

Grace: Yeah. And Miss Seaweed is kinda like me but with normal hair.

Emma: How bout she says, "Class!"

Grace: Yes, Miss Seaweed? (How bout she said we have to pair up with a partner at recess? And you said, "You look really familiar but I don't know you...")

Emma: You look really familiar but I don't know you...

Grace: Every mermaid has at least five powers. How many powers do you have?

Emma: I have every power a mermaid could have...

Grace: What's your secret power? You HAVE to have a secret power.

Emma: I don't have a secret power.

Grace: You've never gone to the secret power store?

Emma: No

Grace: Well, I can't be your friend if you won't tell me what your secret powers are.

Emma: I don't have one. I promise.

Grace: Please tell me.

Emma: I don't have one.

Grace: Excuse me? Miss Seaweed? Does that girl have a secret power?

Emma: Miss Seaweed says that you have to be nice to me even if I have no secret power.

Grace: Well...my powers will vanish away if I don't know anybody's secret power. They'll VANISH! Can you change into a person? Is that your power?

Emma: I don't change into a person.

Grace: THEN WHAT'S YOUR POWER?

Emma: (blows bubbles under water)

Grace: Is it to wake the animals up? That's a secret power.

Emma: No.

Grace: How 'bout they just locked me away and trapped my powers away? (pretending to cry)

Emma: And how 'bout the mean girl Sea Slug was principal?

Grace: Then a bunch of girls tried to get my powers.

Emma: And then they all turned nice and didn't take your powers.

Grace: How 'bout the mean girls stole my power but they're not nice?

Emma: But that's my secret power. I turn people nice.

Grace: Ahhhhhhh!!!!

Emma: Are you OK?

Grace: My powers! Use your secret power to help me get my powers back!

Emma: (splashing)

Grace: Emma! How 'bout there are three kinds of mermaids. A black stone mermaid. A pink clock mermaid...and a sparkle diamond mermaid. Actually there are four. Also there is the light star mermaid.

Emma: And that is the highest level you can be. How 'bout you don't have that level. How 'bout I have the highest level power because I have a special tail.

Grace: How bout I told you about my power. And you were the tenth person I told. And we were only nine years old...and the power was nobody could know what kind of mermaid we were? How 'bout you guess what kind of power I have.

Emma: And then it was finally over.

Beauford

2009-05-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

This is Beauford

After a day of roaming the ranch, Grace was tired.

Luckily, Beauford was there for her.

They don't call it the "dog days of summer" for nothing!

Sunshine + Dog + Dirt + Girl = Happiness

Yes, sir.

A Bag of Books

2009-05-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

I bought a lot of books recently. When I was in Bishop, I visited East Side Books, one of my favorite used book stores on earth. I always feel like I've gone treasure hunting when I come out of that bookstore. This time, quite a find: Savage Beauty, a hardcover biography on Edna St. Vincent Millay (one of my favorite authors and poets.) I had admired the book at Barnes and Noble many times, but didn't want to spend $30.00 on it. Finding it for under $10.00 at the used bookstore was exhilarating.

Then, for my birthday, I got two Barnes and Noble gift cards. Oh, the joy! I ended up purchasing a bunch of books online. Out of the Dust, a beautifully written children's book about a difficult subject- a young girl who lives in California during the dust bowl who loses her mother to a fire. I also bought The Girl Who Could Fly, a children's chapter book that's been called a cross between Harry Potty and Little House on the Prairie. Finally, I bought a book called A Great and Terrible Beauty. I don't know what it's about, but one of my students was reading it during class and I had to tell her to put it away numerous times. She would smile and say, "I just can't put it down, Mrs. Smith!" That's the sort of book I like to read. :) I also have The Plain Truth, by Jodi Picoult, about a murder in an Amish community, and The Gatekeepers, a book about the selection process at the most prestigious colleges.

Having a bag full of books makes me hesitate to dive in. I like to look at them. I feel their covers, read their back pages, hunt for the author biographies, and glance at the reviews. If it's a new book, I smell its crisp, smooth pages; if it's a used book, I hunt for inscriptions or highlights. I wonder who owned it before I did.

Having this bag of books has made impossible for me to blog recently. I haven't even started reading, really. I just spread them out and look at them and decide what I'm going to read next. I rank them in order. I read the first line of each book. They lay in waiting, like unopened gifts.

Summer is close enough to make finishing them a reality.

Manzanar

2009-04-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

Sign at the entrance.

Information about yearly pilgrimages to Manzanar.

An orchard

Gravestone- notice the money and paper cranes

More Cranes

This beautiful monument was built in the graveyard. The characters mean something about "a place for the soul to rest."

Money left on a rock in the entrance to the graveyard. Isn't it sad that United States citizens had to die behind barbed wire in their own country?

A book written and illustrated by one the the students in the Manzanar school.

A replica of the barracks they had to live in.

Hostile, ugly signs like these were plastered on businesses and in neighborhoods.

Manzanar was a relocation camp for citizens of Japanese descent during World War II. It's so close to Bishop, but ironically we never talked about it or learned about it in school. (I think we should have read Farewell to Manzanar and gone there on a field trip, but we didn't.) They created a beautiful museum where Manzanar was, and on the way home from Bishop, I took Matt and the girls for a visit.

The Japanese have a beautiful culture- artistic, brave, and resilient. These American citizens were driven out of their homes. They left behind their furniture, their businesses, their pets, their friends- everything. They were shipped across the state to many camps. Manzanar was one of them. The desert winds and cold mountain air were often unforgiving. One man on the video presentation said that there were holes in the roof where he could see the sky, but his thoughts were about how beautiful the stars were. This same gentleman talked about waking up in the morning to his cot and bedding covered in sand from the wind.

And yet--these people made beauty where there was only unfamiliar. They planted gardens and orchards. They painted. They played baseball, held school, and wrote for a newspaper about Manzanar. When they were finally able to leave Manzanar (after years) they also had to leave the Western states. Essentially, they had to start completely over. They did so with grace and dignity.

I'm so glad that I was able to teach the kids about this place. Matt summed it up perfectly when he said, "This is important. Why didn't I ever learn about this?"

Bishop Trip

2009-04-19T18:14:00.001-07:00

Spellbinder Books and Black Sheep Espresso Bar- Some of our Favorite Places
I brought the crazy ladies to my former high school...We didn't go in- just looked around the outside.

An Amigos stop, of course.

Jenni's adorable little guy, Jed

The girls and Jed

The gals in the back of Grandma and Granpa's van when we were on our way to Mammoth. They are holding Naughty, Grandma and Grandpa's dog.

Tub Talk with Emma and Grace

2009-03-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

Emma and Grace's last escapade in the tub had them pretending to be mermaids.

During tonight's bath, they are playing with little plastic mermaids in the tub in my bathroom, and I can hear them from my computer desk. They like to play what Jeff and I call "How 'Bout."

Welcome to "Tub Talk, With Emma and Grace" (unedited)

Grace: "How 'bout these girls...they are water saving girls."

Emma: "Yeah, and they go around and they save the planet and stuff."

Grace: "And you wanted to help me, but you thought my hair was trash, and you tried to pick it up."

Emma: "And then we saw these people who were bad and they were throwing trash every where. And we had to help the world."

Grace: (in mermaid voice) "Oh No!"

Emma: (makes sound effects for picking up trash)....changes topics...."How 'bout if I touch water I become a mermaid...(changes to mermaid voice) 'Hey, do you want to go for a swim?'"

Grace: "How 'bout I'm trying to get a tan, but I only get a sunburn..."

Emma: "How 'bout I can swim really fast?"

Grace: "How 'bout you tell me I swim fast..."

Emma: (in mermaid voice) "You swim fast!"

Grace: (in mermaid voice) "Thanks!"

Emma: (in mermaid voice) "Hey...I got some new coconut bodywash. Would you like to try it? I made it myself."

Grace: (in mermaid voice) "Oh, please! Does it make you relax?"

Emma: (in mermaid voice) "Yeah!"

Stay tuned for our next installment of Tub Talk with Emma and Grace

Pug Addiction- A Family Tradition

2009-03-12T23:42:00.000-07:00

The girls' homework over the past week was to create a poster on our family's heritage, including traditions, customs, culture, etc.

We were trying to think about what our family traditions were. On Jeff's side, his Irish Grandma Mary always made Corned Beef and Cabbage for Saint Patrick's Day. My Italian Grandma Irene makes great spaghetti. Grandma Otti's side of the family opened presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas, and to this day we still open Grandma Otti's presents on Christmas Eve. We eat quiche every Christmas morning because someone in the family did that long ago.

Then we realized that the MAIN thing that's been passed down through generations in our family is THE PUG. Yes...the little dog with the curly tail, squished nose, and velvety ears has been a major part of our family since the early 1900's. I always tell people that my family had pugs before we had cars, and it's true. My mom and I scanned a bunch of very old pictures for the girls to use on their posters, including the infamous "pugs in a wagon with our relatives" picture.

The night after doing the project, I snuggled a bit closer to little Olivia, thinking about how my great, great grandfather heard the same soft snoring sound, looked into those big brown puggy eyes, and fell in love, which started a tradition our family would carry into the 21st century. FYI...I'm convinced that the girls will carry on this puggy addiction, a family tradition, for years to come.

2008- Olivia

2008- Sophie

2001- Jeff asleep with a pug stack (Peggy Sue and Noel -mom's pugs- and Bug and Ace- ours)

1988-ish- Cocoa, Tiffany, Emily, some pugs from my childhood

1985- Cocoa as a puppy

1970's- Felice and Querida, my first pugs, and my mom's first pugs as a married lady on her own. The story goes that my grandma Otti bought my mom Querida as a gift and my dad grumbled and grumbled, but a year later my dad bought Felice. He's been addicted ever since.

1970(ish)- My mom with Felice

Photo on the Left- My mom, 1949 Photo on the Right- My Uncle Tom and Mom with pug

1940-ish- A young Grandma Otti with her pugs

1930- Grandma Otti's Grandpa (my great, great grandpa) with his pug

1900's- My Great-Great Grandpa and family- they are holding a pug in their WAGON...(look on the lap of the boy in the front seat. The boy is Grandma Otti's dad, my great-grandpa Justin Helland.)

I leave you with one final message...

Pugs, not drugs.

Love and Loss...and Love Again!

2009-02-17T21:02:00.000-08:00

When it comes to animals, this has been a difficult couple of months for us here at Smith house.

In December, our cat Miss Priss didn't come home. Miss Priss was primarily an indoor kitty, but she had access to the outside through the doggie door. She was with us for four years and always stayed in the yard. You could count on her to come when you called her. When she didn't come home, we knew something was terribly wrong. There have been several coyotes spotted near our neighborhood and we're almost sure that one got her.

Then, our sweet Mr. Marty had lung problems for the second time in a year. The first time, he endured a pretty painful treatment where they "tap" the lung. It worked for a little while, but when the lung problems came back worse than ever, we knew we had to do the most humane thing we could and made the difficult decision to put him down. Both Jeff and I stayed with Marty at the vet the entire time, and we both cried and told him how much we loved him. Marty was a genuinely sweet, loving boy and an ambassador for rescue pets everywhere. Everyone who saw him wanted to know "where we got that wonderful dog" and we were always proud to say, "At a rescue!" Marty was on death row at the animal shelter in Riverside when a rescue organization picked him up. We found Marty at PetSmart and the rest is history. He was humble, kind, selfless, and sweet, and we will truly miss our boy. Grace is convinced that Marty lives "in Heaven in a dog treehouse" and that he is running around with my sister's dog Lennie and a few of our other lost pets. I tend to agree with her. Revelations 19 talks of Jesus coming back on a white horse, and God says He knows of every sparrow who falls, so I don't doubt that there are animals in Heaven. The gals and I are convinced that it will be a reunion for us...with both humans AND animals alike.

Marty and Emma enjoying a book during his last week

So life goes on, and the pain of loss gets a bit easier every day.

...and a day comes along when the girls and I decide that we're short too many pets. Why...we ONLY have three dogs and a pony! There are SO many shelter animals waiting for our love. We decided to convince Jeff that a perfect Valentine's present would be a rescue kitty.

It took some pleading. Some "But Daddy's" and some sad, sad eyes

...and he caved. :)

We spent an entire day at the shelter.

What did we learn?

There are more pets in need of homes now than ever before. When people lose their homes, their pets are often left behind in the empty houses. Pets are left tied to the tree outside the pound. The owners don't even bother to bring them in. While we were at the pound, a lady was walking by and said that she "just didn't have time to walk her dog" and that was why she was leaving him. My sister said the disdain from the shelter volunteer was palpable.

The animals in the kennels outside were wet, and it was a chilly day, so many were shaking.

The cats in the cat trailer were so ready for attention that many of them swatted our clothing and pressed against their cages as we walked by.

I think every human being should have to spend a day at a shelter. Perhaps then they wouldn't demand "designer" puppies from posh pet stores which merely support the puppy mills. Perhaps then they wouldn't look for that special breed from a breeder, but rather wait it out and search the shelters until they found one. Perhaps they wouldn't think of the mutts and unwanted pets as being flawed--in some way, all pets are flawed, and like people, we work through the flaws once we've taken them on as our responsibility.

I think of our pug Bug who had a neurological disorder that caused him to drag his paws. He could no longer go for walks without bloodying his feet, and so Jeff and I brought him along with us in a wagon. Near the end of his life, Bug lost control of his bowels and had no idea when he needed to go. All we could do was let him out more often and treat him with understanding when he had an accident.

I think of Ace, who, at eleven years old is perhaps the most annoying dog EVER. He barks at the door, chases the vacuum, eats poop, and smells terribly, but he is still that same guy I adopted eleven years ago and brought home to Jeff. Heck-old people smell too, but you don't drop them off at the pound!

And Marty, whose life was extended a mere three years because of his rescue...those last few months weren't easy, but we loved him through it.

One of my favorite quotes:

'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the ways its animals are treated~ Mahatma Gandhi

The happy news:

We brought home not one, but TWO of the most sweet, lovable kitties in the world. They are brothers, and they love each other like no cats I've ever seen. They sleep cuddled up together, often in the shape of-I know it sounds cheesy- a heart.

The kitties were owner turn-ins. They are nine months old and have the most mellow, sweet dispositions in the world. The girls named them Poe (not the Teletubby...more like Edgar Alan) and Gus (like Augustus, the mouse from Cinderella...ironic!)

The kitties love their new home, and we are going to make sure they are completely indoor kitties so we don't lose any more animals.

The pugs can't believe their luck. They love the kitties, and they love to inspect the kitties, smell the kitty food, and sit next to the kitties, who have an unbelievable tolerance and patience for them. Only Old Man Ace seems a bit crabby, but what else would we expect?

Rescue pets are the most rewarding, loving, grateful pets in the world.

Thinking about a new pet?

RESCUE!

The girls and I (and yes- even Jeff!) would highly recommend it.

Gus loves the basket

Poe is the cozier of the two kitties

Curious!

I don't know many things sweeter than this.

You've got to wonder what these two have been through together!

Where I'm From

2009-02-01T13:39:00.001-08:00

Photos courtesy of Galen Rowell (1940-2002)
Mountain Light Photograph, Bishop, CA

I am from tumbleweeds and wild rose bushes

Cottonwood trees

The sun setting behind Mt. Tom

Burnt Sienna and caramel leaking into my upstairs bedroom window

along with beetle chirps and the flutter of bats' wings.

I am from my dad's tropical enchiladas, heavy with cilantro

And the knotty redwood paneling of our house-his version of wallpaper.

From his gruff voice saying, "Don't go barefoot" and "Turn out the lights!" and worse- "Don't make me come up there!"

His tone disguising his love.

I am from my mom's chicken and dumplings- food of comfort like her words-

"Do unto others" and "Love Never Fails"

Best of all, the softness of her fuzzy blue robe

The smell of her Vaseline lotion as she wipes away tears

"Let's start a new day."

I am from Maple and Brown Sugar oatmeal on freezing mornings-

And a radio deejay blessing us with announcements of cancelled school.

Later, the whooooosh of a snowball past frozen ears.

And stinging feet next to the fire.

I am from Dorothy Hamill haircuts, bad perms, and crooked bangs in school pictures.

From cowgirl boots, horse corrals, braided manes, and the smell of leather saddles.

From 4-H hats, Brownies, youth group.

I am from strong grandmothers with quirky personalities.

Grandma Ottilee, who hates her name, is always cold,

and says, "Bingle Bangle Boom!" whenever you fall.

Grandma Irene, whose feisty temper is thick red like her spaghetti sauce,

pulling the car off the road to yell at a pig, "Sueeeyyy!" and cackling with laughter.

I am from journals of poetry, pressed flowers, and boys' names scribbled with hearts over the "i's",

From L.M. Montgomery novels stained with age, bought at used bookstores.

From milk instead of kool-aid and cheerios instead of Cocoa Pebbles

From Love Boat and Happy Days

Tin lunch pails with Charlies Angels

I am from all of these memories

Packed into an antique trunk

And trinkets stowed away in a heart-shaped perfume box

Waiting to be unleashed.

Dawn Smith, 2008

Dented Armor

2009-01-26T20:39:00.000-08:00

Last week I had a bit of food poisoning and was flat on the couch not wanting to move. Our living room is at the back of the house, and from the living room you can look into the front room, where there is a floor to ceiling built-in bookshelf. As I was laying there waiting for the pain to go away, I looked up into the front room to find Grace scaling the bookshelf. She was about two feet from the ceiling, hanging there like Spiderman.

"Get down from there!" I panicked. Grace scrambled down as I continued my lecture. "You could fall and break your head open! You could break the bookshelf! Don't ever let me catch you doing that again!"

Grace was upset because she had thrown her Polly Pocket doll up into the bookshelf, and she was trying to climb up to get it. I told her that I was very sick and she would have to wait for her dad to come home from work to climb up to retrieve it.

About 15 minutes later, Emma came over to me looking VERY sympathetic. "I'm sorry you are hurting, Mama," she said, as she hugged me tightly and patted my back. I was struck by the incredible compassion from my selfless daughter, and turned to kiss her cheek, when I saw- the horror!- that she was signaling to her sister that the coast was clear to climb up the bookshelf. Emma was a decoy, there to distract me, as her sneaky sister began her treacherous climb up the shelf!

Of course, I let them have it. "How DARE you try to trick your poor, sick mama! You disobyed, and snuck, and lied!"

I sent them to their rooms for a time out.

Ten minutes later, I called them back so they could apologize. Emma was inconsolable.

"I have a dent!" she wailed.

What?

"You have a zit?" I asked.

"A dent! I have a dent!"

We went back and forth, until she finally cried, "I have a DENT in my armor!"

Grace had to explain the rest. "Mr. Fairchild (their vice principal) told us that whenever we do something bad, we put a dent into our good armor."

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing at these two naughty ladies who had tried to tag team me only moments before.

I think a lot of us wish we could scream at the world, "I have a dent!" Imagine seeing our past mistakes as dented armor. :) I know mine would look pretty awful. Although I love the analogy of dents in our armor, I am grateful that we can buff out the dents with good behavior and forgiveness so that our armor is shiny and new. Best of all- God doesn't see the dents, only the hearts behind them, awash in His son's grace. :)

The gals would be MORTIFIED if they knew I shared this with you. :)

January=Change, Hope, Redemption

2009-01-17T19:14:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted much lately...I've been so busy at school and here at home.

I always do some serious reflecting in January. This January, like the rest of the country, I'm feeling the change in the air. Barrack Obama's inauguration is on Tuesday. For the first time I can remember, they're encouraging us to watch it at school. My girls wrote letters to President-Elect Obama for a homework assignment. They were entered into a contest to be published in a children's book. Emma's letter asked him to "please help every animal and person of this land find a home...and eat your fruits and vegetables and get plenty of sleep." Grace told him she thought he would make a great president, and she drew a picture of her and President Obama standing next to each other holding hands. She said, "He's not black, mama" as she was coloring him, and then chose a lovely coffee shade of brown to shade his face. That moment almost made me cry. As it was when he was elected, I felt so inspired to see my daughters witness such an amazing moment of history.

Back to back with Obama's election is Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and holiday. For the first assignment back at school, I had my class read his final speech, "I've Seen the Promised Land." It's such an ironic and inspiring speech since he died the day after giving it. It echoed many themes of today and was so relevant for our students. In the speech, King compares his struggle to that of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. During the last lines of his speech, King states, "Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!"

I think Martin Luther King would be so proud to witness what is coming on Tuesday. It is such a giant step toward the Promised Land of equal rights that he spoke of. Step by step, we will get there.

In other news:

My girls will be 8 years old in a week. As usual around their birthday, I get a bit melancholy. Just moments ago I held them on my lap for stories in the rocking chair. We all fit on the chair, but now Emma's height keeps creeping up...she'll be to my shoulders before you know it! Grace's feet just keep growing longer and longer. We just bought her new shoes and now she needs them again. I told them both them must STOP growing for a few years. No more birthdays, no more growing. 7 and 8 are wonderful, fun, inquisitive ages and I want to enjoy this as much as I can while it lasts. They are so beautiful, both inside and out.

Emma (L), friend Kylie (middle) and Grace (L) at Kylie's 8th birthday party

Finally- Jeff and I just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. In one way, I can't believe 14 years have flown by so quickly, but in another way, I can't imagine my life without him. It just seems like he's always been there. :) I just adore that sweet man.

January is a month for changes. It is a month for reflection. It is a month for renewed goals.

My goals:

To lose my Christmas weight (and a bit more.) I was eating pumpkin pie like it was its own food group!
To be on time in the morning. I'm always rushing out the door for school. I am a definite snooze button hitter. I arrive at school on time, but in the midst of the most horrifying parent traffic. I end up frustrated and disgruntled, and it's only 7:30 am. Not a great way to start my day. I know I should move my alarm across the room and GET UP to turn it off, and then not get back in bed. I should...

To schedule in time for ME. During school, I run at a maximum speed, going-going-going, and often don't schedule "me" time. Time to exercise, or even stretch. Time to take a hot bath. Time to have a massage. Time to get coffee with my girlfriends, or even to call them on the phone just to chat. Time to go on a date with my husband. I feel like I live at such a rapid pace that I end up plopping in front of the television and tuning out the world- just to recuperate. I need that, but I also need scheduled time for me. Part of that will be learning to say "No." Part of that will be getting more organized and using my time more wisely. Part of that will be spending less time doing things that aren't productive toward anyone or anything. (Myspace?)

Those are my three goals. After writing them down, I realized that they are really all tied together.

I leave with with a few of my favorite quotes by Martin Luther King Jr.

"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence."

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."

"The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important."

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

Don't they just give you goosebumps?

Grace's Thanksgiving Story

2008-12-13T12:47:00.000-08:00

One Thanksgiving

By Grace Smith

One day three indians wanted to have the best Thanksgiving ever.

So one indian wanted to have a turkey for Thanksgiving. The next indian wanted to have a chicken for Thanksgiving. The other indian wanted to have a pig for Thanksgiving. The next day was Thanksgiving. So the three indians went out to hunt for what they wanted. The very next day they went out to hunt for what they wanted. The very next day was here so they were sad 'cause they hadn't found a turkey, chicken, or pig for Thanksgiving. So they cooked their food and they were about to start eating but "DeegDong" the doorbell rang. Then they heard a noise and it was "Gobl Gobl Gobl, Bock Bock, Oink Oink. They got the door. One indian yelled, "Yes!" It was the turkey, the chicken, and a pig. The indians said, "Sit down, this is going to be the best feast ever!" Then the turky, chicken, and pig ran. The animals sat at the table and then the indians, turkey, chicken, and pig had a good feast.

Fun With the Scanner

2008-11-16T00:16:00.000-08:00

I went to dinner at my mom and dad's tonight because Jeff took the girls on a quick, one-night camping trip with some other guy friends and their kids. (Remote, desert tent camping...not my thing.) After dinner, I went up and dug out some photo albums, looking specifically for those homemade costumes I had written about in my previous blogs.

I was able to find pictures of me in four costumes:

The Bride- 1976 or '77

The Gypsi- 1979

The Cat- 1982?

Crest Toothpaste- 1983

Good times!

About as Martha Stewart as I Get...

2008-11-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

Olivia-Bee

Princess Sophie

The Girls' Pumpkins
Kathleen's Dad Jonathan Saved the Day with the Pumpkins!

The Gigantic Pumpkin and its Proud Creators

Emma Toucan

Grace-aroo

Well...I pulled it off. I sent my daughters out on Halloween dressed appropriately (and creatively.) A little bit of thread, some accessories, some face paint, feathers, and an old brown wash cloth became a Toucan and a Kangaroo costume. The girls were so excited, and they wore their Heelies trick or treating in order to zoooooom to each house- maximum candy efficiency!

We wanted a quiet night with a bit of trick or treating and a simple dinner. Poor Jeffy had to work late, and after a busy, busy week, I couldn't handle a carnival or Halloween party without back up. We did have a couple of monkeys visit- cousin Jonas and baby Kathleen came over in their monkey costumes. Kathleen's dad Jonathan brought over a gigantic pumpkin, which he allowed the girls to draw on and help him carve. They ended up carving three pumpkins, and we saved all of the seeds so that Christine can make her yummy pumpkin seeds. :)

Sophie and Olivia dressed up like a princess and a bee. My dad sat on the porch handing out candy while we hit the neighborhood houses. My mom walked the neighborhood with the girls and me and we reminisced about all of the Halloween costumes through the years. Best of all- Grandma Otti (who has been really sick and on Hospice care) was feeling good enough to come down and try to steal some of the girls' candy- a yearly tradition.
Cousin Jonas the Monkey

Gracie's Pouch

The Pugs Dressed Up- Of Course

Baby Kathleen Came Over to Monkey Around

Annoyed

2008-10-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

Why are so many sexy Halloween costumes being marketed to little girls? I just took the girls to Target to look for costumes, and after 30 minutes, we left empty-handed.

I understand that many adult women like to get glammed up and sexy for Halloween- especially those in their 20's who are out having a good time. I'm fine with that. Whatever. But why does society find it necessary to completely sexualize little girls? My daughters are in SECOND GRADE. So NO- they aren't allowed to be the "Diva" whose costume looked like a female pimp, complete with large purple feathers. Neither will they go out with the Brat's pirate outfit, complete with short, short skirt and fishnet stockings. Some other choices? Gothic cheerleaders or sexy cleopatra. Seriously? Seriously.

This year, Grace wants to be a kangaroo and Emma wants to be a Toucan. I know those are off-the-beaten-path choices, but I'm going to have to get creative enough to make it happen. I am DEFINITELY not the Martha Stewart type. I mean- I scrapbook and decorate my house for Fall. I make Pumpkin pie and spicy cider. However, I do not sew, nor have I used my sewing machine more than twice since I bought it three years ago. My mom, another non-Martha Stewart, used to pull out all of the stops for us at Halloween. I was a yellow bunny when I was five, a gypsi numerous years in a row (all you needed was bangly jewelry and a head-scarf and you were SET.) My moment of glory was my sixth grade Halloween costume. I was a tube of Crest toothpaste and my best friend Heather was a tooth. We won first prize at school that year. That was back when parents could still bring homemade cupcakes to school and classrooms could have thematic parties just for the heck of it- before our schools were so test-driven that these things became enormous wastes of time, or "a waste of instructional minutes." (But that's another tangent.)

Back to the Halloween costume issue. Don't people think anymore? Let's see- I think I'll get my little girl dressed up in a sexy outfit and have her knock on strangers' doors asking for candy.

These are some examples of costumes being marketed this year to girls. NOT teens...young girls.

Hootchie Pirate (my name for it...)

Gothic "Come Hither" Geisha

"Showing off my Torso and Angry at the World" Cheerleader

Pretending it's Fall

2008-10-19T10:54:00.001-07:00

The foothills of Oak Glen.
Pumpkins on a pumpkin
Josie in the praire cabin
Doesn't Emma looked excited?
Yesterday, we imagined it was Fall and went apple picking at Riley's Farms in the nearby foothills. Riley's Farms is owned by the Riley family, and hosts a mercantile, pumpkin fields, apple orchards, a cider press, horses, goats, log cabins, and other items that made us think of "Little House on the Praire." We picked apples in the orchard, picked out the perfect pumpkins growing right off the vine, sipped cider and tested pumpkin butter at the mercantile, and viewed a log cabin that would have made Ma and Pa proud. All the while we wished that it was just a bit cooler...we missed the crisp, Fall air and instead trudged around in 90 degree heat.

Here in Southern California, we pretend it is Fall. We decorate our houses with Fall leaves from Michael's craft store. We bake pumpkin bread and go apple picking...but deep in our hearts we know it's just a farce. We could easily pull out our swimsuits and heat the pool for a little leftover summertime. The seasons melt into each other as we go through the motions, hanging on to traditions so that time doesn't blend together and make one long season of summer.

Praire Emma Hanging the Wash

A Bit of Torture

Homecoming

2008-10-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

No one was coming home...

...but in the spirit of Homecoming, we all put on red and went to school for the football game. The theme was "fairy tales" and each class had a float. Two of my AVID students were on homecoming court, and my favorite custodian was the grand marshall. This year had a more homey feel than any other year because Megan is a freshman on the dance team, and they performed at halftime. (She was absolutely beautiful, but the highlight of her night was not about looking for cute boys, but finding out that a small pig from one of the floats was for sale...it was love at first site!)

I'll never forget football games in Bishop--the crisp, Fall air with the smell of cozy fires, wearing three pairs of nylons under my cheer skirt to keep warm, buying hot cider at the snack bar, watching for that certain boy on the football team or in the stands. Well, now instead of being a Bronco, I'm a Nighthawk (and have been for the past six years...longer than I was even IN high school...what a trip! Even worse? I've been teaching for over eleven years...yikes!)

Overall, even though I live in Southern California, I still felt such a small town, cozy, HOME feeling being at that football game (and seeing many former students as well as all the current ones brought the small town out even more!)

The silliest part? I didn't really even watch the game. :)

TomMen, Littlehood, and Waitin' for a Lady

2008-10-09T19:27:00.001-07:00

Emma and Grace at their Fourth Birthday "Cowgirl" Party
The Gang

Cowgirls- The closest thing to "TomMen" I can think of.
The Real Deal

I just love the way kids think.

Lately, I've been telling girls "When I Was Little" stories when I put them to bed. I've told them about the girl who wanted to beat me up in 5th grade, about the time I peed my pants at school (sniff sniff), and about accidentally getting on the wrong bus in 2nd grade. The girls are absolutely enthralled with my crazy storeis, and now when it's time for bed, they ask me for "Littlehood Stories!" Tonight I asked where they got the term "Littlehood" and Emma said, "I came up with it. I forgot it was called childhood and started calling it littlehood. Now it's what we call it."

Later, tonight, the gals had a bath, and I noticed that while Emma was toweling off, Grace was still in the tub. I told her to get out of the tub. Grace informed me, "I can't, Mama! I'm waitin' for a lady to come with a towel to dry me off!"

As I was recovering from laughter over Grace's comment, Emma told me that when she and Grace grow up, they are going to be called "TomMen." ??????????? Huh? She explained. "Right now, Grace and I are tomboys. When we grow up, we're going to be TomMen."

Where did these people come from?

Second Grade and The Death of the Toothfairy

2008-09-16T19:17:00.000-07:00

Second grade is upon us. My girls seem so big...and toothless. :) (Teeth are falling out at a rapid rate. Grace lost one yesterday, and the week before, the dogs were wrestling and bumped Emma's bottom tooth right out.) Overall, I think the Smith girls have lost 7 teeth in the past four or five months. That's a lot of teeth! I've forgotten to leave dollar bills beneath their pillows so many times that I finally had to come out and tell the girls that the toothfairy wasn't dead, the toothfairy wasn't a flake...no, the toothfairy was just forgetful, tired Mama who owed them each money. They were excited to solve the toothfairy mystery, and I'm off the hook for now.

Other news- Jeff took the girls to get hair cuts before the first day, and brought Grace back with a surprise BOB...10 inches of her hair gone. I was about to get frustrated at Jeff for allowing our daughter to cut off her precious hair without my knowledge when he told me the haircut was FREE because the 10 inches were donated to Locks of Love to make wigs for cancer patients. Oh, dear. How do you get upset with such a lovely, sweet act? Then, when I saw Grace's adorable little haircut with her pixie ears sticking out of the sides and her toothless little grin, my heart melted. Now, Grace wants to grow her hair out again and I am diggin' the short hair. Oh well...she can always donate more. Now my Gracie hippy child is rockin' the retro, flapper 'do combined with a little new wave/girly girl clip-to-the side-action. She's thrown in some dangly Owl earrings to fancy it up a bit. Emma, on the other hand, wakes up every morning and opts for one of three hairdos: low pony tail in the back, modest pig tails, or one of those two hair dos combined with a bandana or headband. She never wavers.

I'm just glad God gave me a tomboy AND a girly girl so I get a bit of both.

Gypsi's New Friends and "Green" Backpacks

2008-08-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

Pony Gypsi moved up to La Cresta to be closer to my mom and Megan's horse, Tex. She moved to my student's ranch (which I wrote about in a previous blog) and it has been absolutely heavenly! I could probably leave the girls there for a week, and they would never know I was gone.

The girls roam all over the ranch- they feed the swans and fish, feed carrots to the guini pigs, collect the chicken and turkey eggs, visit the cockatoos, and pet the "old folks" (an old donkey named Ears and his ancient companion.) They pick peaches off the trees, feed (and brush???) the turtles, and basically run carefree until we FORCE them to get in the truck to go home.

Pony Gypsi's new roommates are HILARIOUS. She is in a huge pasture with a tiny donkey named Dirty Harry (he looks like the donkey from Shrek), a buck-toothed llama name Llami, a goat, and a mare named Darla. Gypsi has never been happier, and she fits right in with the menagerie with her fancy, multi-colored eighties mane and the batman sign on her fat bottom. The arena at the new ranch is the perfect size for the girls (mostly Emma) to ride in. I'm so happy just being there.

I'm so glad the girls have this beautiful place to roam. Coming from Bishop, I have an extreme love of the outdoors, and I remember running home when it got dark to eat dinner. Until then, my sister and I were roaming the neighborhood with all of the other kids, climbing in the hay barn, building forts in the field, wading in streams, visiting the neighbor's sheep, and picking wild roses. Kids need to be outside!

On a final note, I took the girls school shopping, and we made our last stop in the backpack section, which is always a big deal. The backpacks were tempting this year! There were Camp Rock backpacks, High School Musical backpacks, Hannah Montana backpacks, and backpacks with those new-wave colors and skulls all over them (which I told the girls they couldn't have...I think skulls are a bit morose for second grade, but then again I'm all about happy things...)

Grace picked out a pink backpack with a monkey on it, but it was Emma who surprised and impressed me. She found a backpack with all kinds of earth-friendly messages on it- statements about recycling, planting trees, and lessening waste. (Pretty big concepts for a second grader, I thought, but I realized that our family's cloth shopping bags, recycle bin, and "green/organic" lifestyle is starting to rub off!) The coolest thing about Emma's backpack is that is is made out of recycled water bottles! I told Emma that her backpack didn't have wheels on it like Grace's, and she replied, "I don't mind, Mama. I like to be earth friendly." I was so proud of her!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

2008-08-02T23:34:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Packing/San Diego/Grasshoppers

2008-07-27T11:44:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of the girls sneaking into my suitcase as stow-aways. I'm packing to go to AVID Summer Institute in San Diego, and they decided they'd hitch a ride. Now, as I write this, they're loading each other into the rolling suitcases and giving each other rides down the hallway, saying, "Man, I packed a lot of stuff!"

AVID Summer Institute is so much fun. There are ten of us going down this year, all women from my school. We have class during the morning, lunch on our own, site team stuff in the afternoon, and then we're free during the evening. We go to all of the fun San Diego spots: Old Town, the Gaslamp, Pacific Beach, Fashion Valley, etc. Good times!

And now for the grasshopper story....

Jeff rescued a million dying plants from Lowes. He basically got almost $1,000.00 worth of greenery (trees, plants, etc.) for $15.00. The man has a green thumb! He composted a few plants that were too dead to save, and the rest were resurrected. We have plum trees, boysenberry bushes, tropical, flowering plants, bougainvillea, etc. ANYWAY, the girls and I were helping Jeff pull weeds on one of our hills when we found a GIANT grasshopper. The gals immediately went to get their bug house, and put the grasshopper in it. They kept him there all day while our family worked in the yard.

Later that evening, as we were cleaning up, I told the girls that I felt sorry for Mr. Grasshopper, and they should let him go. They agreed, and went out to the back yard to do so. Suddenly, Jeff and I heard squealing and belly laughs from our back yard that lasted quite a while. When the girls came in, they were laughing so hard they could barely tell us what happened. Apparently, they opened the bug house to let Mr. Grasshopper out, and he hopped out right onto Olivia's head. Just imagining little Livvy pug with a giant grasshopper on her head had our whole family cracking up again. My new nickname for Olivia is "Young Grasshopper."

heeheehee

Beetles Have Feelings Too

2008-07-24T15:32:00.000-07:00

The Eagle

Mrs. Hawk
The Bob Cat Hissed at Us!

The kids were so proud to keep the shirts secret!

We went camping in Arrowhead with our friends The Byuns and the Woods. What a fun trip! I've said it before, but one of my favorite things about Murrieta is that we can be at the beach in an hour, the mountains in a hour, Disneyland in an hour, the desert in an hour...the list goes on.

On our camping trip we were able to visit a wildlife refuge. This organization takes in animals who have been "adopted" by people (yes, people think they can adopt baby bears!) injured, found, etc. and they rehabilitate them. We saw owls, coyotes, bears, eagles, hawks, bobcats, mule deer...all kinds of animals native to the San Bernardino mountains. They were doing an educational tour through a UCLA-run summer camp, and we got in with the tour. It was very interesting. I plan to send Emma there for an internship when she gets a bit older. Hee hee hee.

Back to our camping trip: We road our bikes, told stories by the campfire, visited a lake with a waterslide, went out for pizza (yes...while we were camping...but Arrowhead Village is so CUTE!) and ate really, really well. (Don't we always?)

The highlight of the trip was the big "Beatles Have Feelings Too" reveal. The background: Years ago we camped with the same two families in Big Bear. The campground we were staying in was being bombarded with these giant, whiskery, aggressive beetles. They would dive-bomb our food, our hair, our drinks, and our kids. Finally, we'd had enough, and when a beetle landed nearby, one of our friends speared it with a wire hanger used for roasting marshmallows. He then held the flailing beetle over the fire as it crackled and squirmed. Our other friend, Chistine, who is more earth friendly on a bad day than me on my best day, was irrate! "Beetles have feelings too!" she cried, and stormed off.

Our goal ever since is to make "Beetles Have Feelings Too" shirts to surprise Christine on our next camping adventure. We unveiled the shirts at our pizza outing; even Christine's 9 month old daughter Kathleen got a shirt. All of the kids AND the adults proudly uncovered our shirts when Christine was inside the restaurant. We were all cracking up about our silly inside joke when she came out, but we tried to keep straight faced. It took her just a minute to notice, and then like a good sport she went inside and put her shirt on too. Then we all went for ice cream wearing our crazy shirts like we were in some strange Beetle Lover's Club or something. :)

Husband Survey

2008-07-09T00:33:00.000-07:00

Got these questions from someone's bulletin on MySpace. Of course, I had to blog them because my answers are so dang long. :)

1. How did you meet your husband and how old were you?
I was 16 and he was 17. His mom moved to Bishop and he was new at my school. He says he saw me first semester and I didn't notice him. I don't remember. Second semester our classes changed and I sat across from and one desk behind him in history. I had a giant crush on him immediately.
2. Was it love at first sight? Apparently not, since I didn't notice him for an entire semester. It was, however, at major crush status by second semester.

Everyone knows the rest of the story. He moved away, and we lost touch for almost four years. He "found" me by calling my house in Bishop and getting my # from my sister- and the best part was that I had just moved from the Central Coast to Southern California and was living about 3 miles from his house.
3.How did you know you were supposed to marry him?I just KNEW. I called Danielle after our first date (after he "found" me) and said "I'm going to marry this boy!"
4. What was the first date like?In high school, it was me trying to teach him to drive in my old Subaru, eating quesadillas with him at his house at lunch (open campus) and getting in trouble for being out past curfew to hang out with him.

Our first REAL date was after he'd "found" me. He came to my cousin's house (where I was staying until I found a place with my roomate) and I was SO nervous. My cousin was trying to get me to wear her shoes instead of my Doc Martins. I just remember being horrified because the shoes she wanted me to wear had BOWS on them. I wanted to wear my tights and my skirt and my big ugly boots. He picked me up and we went to dinner and then to play pool. He kept remembering things from high school (my favorite song, stuff I used to say) and I was amazed that we had both kept each other in our thoughts after so many years. Of course I had yet to tell him that I had searched for him and written poems about him...too stalkerish. :) hee hee
5. Where did your first kiss take place? In high school on the couch in my living room.
6. Dating... local or long distance? Local, but years of long distance romanticizing. :)
7. Do you know everything there is to know about your husband? Yikes- I think so. His patience still surprises me (like when I recently crushed my truck's bumper by backing into our trailer...I swear, nothing rattles him.) 8. Were your parents supportive of you when you started dating?In high school, NO. He was sort of a bad kid back then....They only met him once when he bussed our table at Firehouse Grill
.
Later on, they really liked him. I think they were relieved that I found someone who was so patient and kind and who would put up with my shenanigans.
9. OK...erasing this question. Too personal! :)

10.How long was it till you got engaged after you started dating?
Let's see...

We met in January of 1989 (if you count my version of the story- second semester during our junior year of high school.)
We kissed on the couch (hee hee) in April.
He moved away in June (1989) and we didn't see each other or talk again until July 14th, 1993 (15 years ago.)
We got engaged in June of 1994. :) As romantic as our "lost soul mate" story is, our engagement story was basically me telling him he needed to set a date and buy a ring or that was it. I don't know why I was in such a hurry, but I wanted a commitment from that boy! (Maybe because my sister was going to get married and I was older and thought I would do all of that first...)

11. Long or short engagement? Short. We were engaged in June of 1994 and married on January 14th, 1995.
12. Did you write your own vows? No.
13. What was one of the things that attracted you to your husband? In high school it was probably that rebellious side to him. He was shy with a bad streak. As a 16 year old girl, that fascinated me.
14. Do you believe he is your soulmate? Yes!
15. Are you happy that you married him? Duh...yes!

Facts:
1.Place your husband was born and date? This seems a little too "steal your credit" sort of a question.
2.Favorite movie? He rarely watches movies. He falls asleep. He likes The Outsiders, Stand By Me, and The Sandlot.
3.Occupation? Sales/Garden and Awesome Daddy
4. What is one of his favorite things to do on the weekends? Four Wheel Drive or Body Board.
5. What was his first thought of you when you first met? I just asked him and he is blundering at answering this question. :) He said, "All I know is that I saw you, I liked you, and now we're married."
I told him he failed that question. Now he's making stuff up about his "life flashing before his eyes" and moonlit walks on the beach.

Geez. :)
6.Does he snore at night while sleeping? Definitely and randomly, yes.
7. What about farting in his sleep? Ewwww....
8. If you could go one place with him anywhere in the world where would that be? I would love to tour the United States with him and camp along the way.
9.Once again, I deleted this ? due to inappropriate content for the eyes of nieces and former students.
10. Is he the best thing that ever happend to you? I feel like God giving me this man and my beautiful daughers (AND a bonus son) is the best and most wonderful gift.

Disneyland Rocks (Title By Grace)

2008-07-08T09:07:00.003-07:00

By Ian, Emma, and Grace

Us on Space Mountain- Check Out Ian's Hair and Emma and Grace's Serious Faces

The Hippo at the Jungle Cruise

Pluto's Bed

Ariel Was Way Up High!

Dude...Feed Us!

Yum...We Ate at the Rainforest Cafe

Mickey's Garden

Mickey's House

Speed Racer

The Parade...Getting sorta tired...

Trying on Silly Stuff

Where's Grace?

The Gas in ToonTown is Better than Regular Gas and Probably Less $$$$

Indiana Jones Talked to Our Mama

Grace: First when we got to Disneyland...

Ian: When we parked in Disneyland's parking, right next to us there was people, and I said that the tram was FUN, and the strange boy next to us was trying to make fun of me, like, "Fun? Yes! Fun! Very fun!" and we thought it was a little weird. The rest of the day, we were like, "FUN! FUN!" in weird voices.

Grace: I'm not finished! First when we got to Disneyland we went on Space Mountain and it was really fun and Splash Mountain was my favorite. Since Matt was in the front, he got soaked! I liked when we went to where Micky Mouse lives because we got to go in Minnie and Mickey's house. Mickey's house was big. We got to go in his garden and we relaxed on his dog bed. It was fun. At Minnie's house, the refrigerator opened and you could see the dishwasher where you could see the dishes getting washed and an oven where you could see a cake getting baked. In Mickey's house there was a washing machine and we got to see the clothes getting washed. EMMA, YOUR TURN!

Emma: We went on Space Mountain twice, Splash Mountain twice, Matterhorn twice, and Thunder Mountain once. We watched the parade. We saw Cinderella and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. We saw the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland and we saw two cards that had hearts on them. We saw two guys with stilts. We saw Ariel and we saw the crab from Ariel. We went on a couple of trains. We went on Indiana Jones, Roger Rabbit, and Pirates of the Caribbean. We went on Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear. We went on the Haunted House and it was very, very, very fun!

Ian: My favorite ride was Space Mountain. It was our last day with Matt. We had FUN.

Grace: We saw the parade and when we saw Ariel, Ariel was way up on a thing. We saw Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella and Belle.

Emma: I had a lot of fun, but I got ready to go home because I was a little bit tired but I wanted to stay because I wanted to go on more rides but I would get too tired. I wanted to stay so bad that I can spend the night there.

We were the tiredest kids in the world after being at Disneyland for 14 hours and riding EVERYTHING!

Marriage Survey

2008-06-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight I interviewed Ian, Grace, and Emma with a survey I got from online that asked kids questions about marriage. The answers the three cousins gave were so funny...I had to post them.

Here goes. (I wrote down exactly what they said...)

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?
(1) You first like hang out with them a little bit and like see how they are. If you know if you like them or not then you'll know. And then you'll get married and then you'll live happily ever after.
- Ian
(2) You figure out if they're nice or not and if you like them and how they are and if they're going to change on you or anything. And then you get married.
- Grace
3) I'm not doing it.
- Emma
WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
(1) I'm not doing it.
- Emma

(2) Ummm (giggles)....about 20 something.
- Grace,

3) Uh, like 28, 29, or 30.
- Ian

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
1) Ummmm, they're hanging out face to face.
- Grace

2) They're holding hands and kissing.
-Ian
3) They have rings.
- Emma
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
(1) Uh....cuz we're all family.
- Emma
2) Ummm, they're both light sleepers. When you touch them and they're sleeping they wake up. They both brush their teeth every morning. They both share the same bed. Do all people do that when they get married?
-Grace
3) Uh, they both are funny and cute and nice and they treat me good.
--Ian
WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
(1) They share their food and they talk about theirselves
- Ian
(2) They get their food with a fork and shove it in the other person's mouth. And then they eat dessert and then after that they drive back and talk about how they like each other. And that's about it.
- Grace
3) They would share food.
-Emma
WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?
(1) I would just like start over. Like, "No no no, wait!"
-Ian
2) Umm, I would just say, "No, stop talking! I don't like you anymore! Please...go away!"
Grace
3) I would do nothing. Just walk away.
Emma
WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
(1) Uh, right now. (Plants one on her mom.)
- Emma
(2) When you're the age. About when you start dating. (Ian inserts..."Well....I'm dating, so I'm in luck.")
- Grace
(3) When you really like them and they like you back. But only on the cheek or something. Maybe on the forehead. It's not OK until teenager age to kiss on the lips.

- Ian
IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
(1) I'm not doing it.
- Emma
2) Married, so you could get babies. And you get an anniversary day!
-Grace
3) Married, because you have someone to spend time with you when you're all lonely.
-Ian
HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
(1) You would have no babies! Sweet little babies! And you'd never have an anniversary day. That stuff would not get invented if people don't get married. Life couldn't run and get more people if you didn't have getting married! That's how it goes!
- Grace
2) It would be different because that you would have no one to enjoy your life with and you wouldn't even be there!

-Ian
3) I'm not sure.
-Emma

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
(1) You have to be kind to that person always and you have to respect what they say and you have to propose nicely and carry them all the way to the limo.
- Ian
2) Silence.
-Emma
3) You would be with someone when they wanted to, and when you had work and they wanted to be with you really bad...CHANGE YOUR SCHEDULE. Always love them and do stuff what they want. And that's about it!

-Grace

The Great Meatball Caper and the Missing Tooth

2008-06-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

Two plates of meatballs mysteriously disappeared from the table after dinner last night. I had asked Emma and Grace to please rinse their plates and put them into the dishwasher when they were through eating. The girls didn't like their meatballs, so they left the table (and their meatballs) and ran back to play with cousin Ian.

So.....

Who ate the meatballs?

I checked (and photographed) each dog.

Marty did not eat the meatballs.

Sophie did not eat the meatballs.

Acer did not eat the meatballs.

Guess who ate the meatballs!

Poor, sad, greedy little grub pig Olivia ate ALL of the meatballs. I haven't seen a pug in a more pained and depressed state since Sophie at all of my Christmas chocolate and wound up at the emergency vet. ($$$$) Olivia, who usually follows us from room to room, sulked lethargically under Emma's desk and looked like she wanted to DIE. She threw up numerous times, and we gave her some water which she barely had the energy to drink! She rested her little chin on the water bowl. Later, we lost Olivia again and found her under Grace's bed; she was overcome with misery.

Emma was devastated that she allowed one of her animal friends to suffer, and she also knew I was very upset at the whole thing. She wrote me the sweetest note (To "MoMo"- for some reason she always spells "Mama" wrong) about how sorry she was and how she hoped I would get "unmad" at her.

As if missing meatballs didn't provide enough drama, Miss Gracie lost one of her bottom teeth and then dropped it while playing with it on her bed. The tooth was nowhere to be found! Grace was very concerned that the tooth fairy would not leave her $$$$ if she didn't have the tooth, so she wrote the toothfairy a very concerned letter. :) (Click on either of the girls' letters to make it bigger so that you can read it.)

What can I say? Even though it's summer and we should be relaxed and carefree, there is NEVER a dull moment around here.

A Cousin and Brother Summer

2008-06-21T12:18:00.001-07:00

The highlight of our summer so far was Matthew's arrival. My stepson and his family moved to Ohio two years ago, and needless to say, we were long overdue for a visit. The girls were esctatic to see their brother, and they haven't stopped following him around, hanging from his arms, hugging him, asking him questions, and making him watch them dance/read/sing/play/eat/etc.

Matthew is an absolute joy. He has grown up a lot, likes to talk and tell stories, and is very sweet to his sisters and cousins who are competing for his attention. It's going to be very difficult to send him home in a couple of weeks!

We're trying to squeeze as much California fun in as we can before Matthew leaves. We spent Monday-Friday camping right on the beach in Carlsbad. Danielle's family, my family, and my mom all had trailers there, and we had ALL the cousins.

The ages:

Emma and Grace 7, Ian 10, Kelly 11, Megan 13, Harley 15, Matt 17

They were all so adorable. We body boarded all week, roasted smores and brown bears by the campfire, played silly games, rode bikes, ate LOTS of junk and candy, observed the dead sea life that washed up (one sea lion that was torn up and one giant sea turtle with everything intact but the head, which was a skull.) We saw dolphins playing in the waves right in front of us, and used bottles and bottles of sunscreen (and got burned anyway!) The week went by too fast.

Tomorrow, Jeff is taking Matt and Harley to the Van's Warped Tour in Ventura for Matt's graduation present. Matt has a meet and greet with Angels and Airwaves. :) He's very excited. He'll stay the night with Harley in Santa Clarita, and then his Bishop Grandparents (Jeff's mom and Tom) will pick up Harley, Matt, and Kelly for a week in Bishop. They'll camp in June Lake for a couple of the days they're there.

He'll return to Harley's, then back here, then to San Diego to visit his old high school friends, then back here for a couple of days, and then on the plane home. I know I'm going to have two devasted little girls when their big brother leaves. I wish so much that a country didn't divide us! I know Matt's mom is missing him from her end as well. It must be both wonderful AND difficult to have so many people love you so much! Jeff is in 7th Heaven with all of his kids, and I know he's very proud of what a sweet young man Matthew has become (quite unlike the 15 year old Matt from two years ago...) :)

OK...I'm off to make an assembly line of sandwiches. I have NO IDEA how people feed 5 kids. (Plus tonight I'll have two more cousins added to the mix when Megan and Ian come over.) I can't believe how much food we've gone through in just a week! I adore every crazy second of it, though. I think I'm meant for a house full of cousins.

Celebration of Life- PMS

2008-06-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

My dad sent the following email and it just CRACKED ME UP. I've added pictures of PMS Kitty, and I am not changing Dad's spelling or grammar.
(By the way, we named the kitty PMS when she transformed from a normal cat to a bipolar attack kitty who will attack at any random moment.)

Dad's Email:

Hi everybody, Well if you didn't here by now our 20 plus year old cat died! So I've decided we should have a celebration of life at the grave site soon. Well maybe everyone should just toast her in your own way privately. She was the only animal I brought home from the famous UTC pet store. Antoinette told me one cold day in February 1988 to bring home a cute little "Sweet Kitty"! Well I thought I did, until she ate my hand one day, hence the name PMS. You could pet, stroke and scratch, listen to her purr then from nowhere she would attack your hand, face, arm in fact she would bite . If you walked to close to her enclosed bed a paw would find you and draw blood sometimes. Yes even guests were warned about getting to close. People would tell me "what the %^*#@ that damn cat just bit me"! The Pugs stayed their distance and even Otties Dalmatian would walk around her. Before her first heat we had her fixed but she went through a false pregnancy and her belly dropped and never returned up. So when she walked she waddled, hence another name "Alien kitty". I once painted a car in my shop in Bishop and forgot she lived in there , when I was finished she meowed and staggered out side totally intoxicated. Her last days she became deaf and would scream meow at us. Well the garage is now clean of all the hair, no more missed cat box stories, the non stop meowing has stopped and we can now stop buying band aids. Funny though I still look for her when I go out to the garage. She was a good pet, I know where's the Kleenex? Later Neil

My Favorite Part of Today

2008-05-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

I wasn't feeling well and didn't do anything monumental today (always disappointing on a three- day weekend) BUT I did have some splendid moments....

Emma reading "Gallop, Oh Gallop"- a poem about horses, out loud. She read it so beautifully. I can't believe how well that child reads aloud!

Grace telling me that Grandma Otti said that if she didn't clean her ears, cabbage would grow out of them. Grace was quite concerned about this.

Talking to Matt on the phone. When I was asking him about graduation gifts, my (almost) 18-year-old stepson said, "Dawn, I make 200.00 a week. I buy myself whatever I want." I wish I were in a place in life when I thought 200.00 a week was a surplus!

Finishing cleaning my house. I HATE doing it, but when I am done, and the house is really clean, it feels SO good. I bribed the girls to help me (beyond normal chores)...I had those girls vacuuming under couch cushions and polishing base boards. They rocked!

Going to Trader Joes. MAN I love that store. My favorite purchases- Vanana Yorgurt (the perfect mixture of vanilla and banana), Emergencee (Dana's recommendation to help me feel better), Lemon Curd (I adore it!) and organic raspberries. Yum.

Now...it's past ten and I'm going to put on my pajamas and watch a movie or READ in bed. I know it's late, but my OTHER favorite part of today is that there is NO SCHOOL tomorrow and the gals and I are sleeping in.

School: Projects and Parties

2008-05-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ian and his Immigrant Report

Me, Mary, and Nicole

Mary and Jeff (top)

Katherine and Dana's baby, Blake

Emma, Josie, Grace, Mikail, Sophie, and Jade

Now that it's May, school is winding down for everyone.

One of my great joys this year has been tutoring my nephew, Ian. In exchange for Grace's dance lessons, I take Ian in the afternoons and we work on homework. He's been working really hard, and his progress has been significant! (I call my truck the "tutor bus" because after school I have Ian, Emma, and Grace, along with their backpacks, lunch bags, and projects.) Recently, Ian was assigned an "Immigrant Project;" he had to research one of his relatives and the way he or she came to the United States.

Ian and I truly bonded over our research of Adomas Zakarouski, Ian's great, great grandfather (my great grandfather.) At just sixteen, Adomas boarded a tramp steamer in Lithuania and travelled to Ellis Island. Once in America, he moved to Illinois, where he met his wife (Great, Great Grandma) and they started a sewing business. When Adomas died, he left Great Grandma with no money; she moved into a Polish neighborhood and in order to fit in, she changed her name to Zakarski, the Polish form of Zakarouski. Every time she moved to a new neighborhood, she changed her name.

Adomas's son was my grandfather, Stanley Raymond Zakar. "Grandpa Ray" as we called him, grew up and joined the Navy, and his officers told him to shorten his name because Zakarouski was too difficult to pronounce. He shortened it to Zakar, which is my dad's last name and my maiden name.

Ian made the most rockin' immigrant project board known to man! We are both very proud of it. We added maps, pictures, and his report, and the entire board's colors were those of the Lithuanian flag. We felt pretty crafty and clever when we were finished!

The best part of tutoring Ian was recently when my sister said that when he received his progress report (which was very, very good) he couldn't wait to show me. :) He's such a punkin pie I tell ya!

Other school news: Our English department had a party/bbq and all of us ate (a lot) while the kids played. I work with a wonderful group of friends, and I love watching our kids grow up together.

School's almost out and I can't wait for summer break to begin, but I must say that parties and projects have been rather enjoyable this year. :)

Glamour Cowgirl and Dance Class Dropout

2008-05-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

I love this picture. It is a perfect photographic display of my daughters' personalities.

Emma is in a sensible tank top and blue jeans; we're about to go visit the pony with our friend Kylie (on the right) and Emma wants to be prepared for some real horse interaction. She put on the hat to humor the other girls, but she'll take it off once we get to the ranch so she can wear her helmet.

Grace is all glammed up to go riding, although once we get to the ranch, she will not ride at all. She'll run around showing Kylie all of the things to do: swing on the swingset, find the pig in the hay stack, visit the new baby horse, jump on the trampoline....but she won't ride. Grace is wearing her pink cowgirl hat (with the tiara), her pink Roxy capri pants (not sensible to ride in) and horse socks. Grace is NOT wearing boots because she loaned them to Kylie so Kylie could be a "real cowgirl" like Grace. :)

Miss Emma Claire rides Pony Gypsi like a little pro. She gallops around the arena with her buns sticking to that saddle like peanut butter. When (and if) Grace gets on the pony, the pony just stands there. Gypsi is smart enough to know that Grace has NO IDEA how to control her, so Gypsi just stays put, or tries to squeeze her head under the arena fence to eat grass.

Now dance class...dance class is another story.

Emma decided NOT to take Hip Hop because Hannah Montana bugs her.

Grace enrolled in two Hip Hop classes, as well as ballet and tap. She dances four afternoons a week.

Emma asked Auntie if she could NOT wear her hair in a bun and NOT wear pink. Auntie said those were the rules. Emma complied, and didn't complain, but didn't look thrilled.

Grace has 900 dance outfit combinations- jazz pants, footless tights, velvet ballet leotards, sparkle skirts. Some are hand-me-downs, some are Emma's old stuff, and some are Grace's. She doesn't care, as long as she can throw together a new ensemble for each class.

Grace is truly a talented dancer and she has the willowy body of a ballerina. She is a total dancin' kiss-up, raising her hand to answer Auntie's questions, and folding her hands quietly while Auntie helps the other students.

Emma's short tenure as a ballerina consisted of messing around in the back of the class, stomping across the dance floor, and zoning out. Finally one day, she came out of dance class with her face all blotchy and she quit. "I get too tired doing dance. I'd rather ride pony any old day." And that was that.

Emma's ballet slippers are now in Grace's closet, and Grace's pink cowgirl boots are clean and shiny.

Sisters.

Emma and Gracie remind me of my sister Danielle and me. Danielle doesn't read; I adore books. Danielle hates English class at school. I teach English. She dances beautifully; I am unbelievably uncoordinated! Danielle loves to exercise; I have to force myself to go to the gym.

But...I love her to death. Being so different has only brought us closer together. I know Emma and Grace will be just as close, if not closer than we are.

100 Things About Me

2008-03-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

Thank you, Steph, for the challenge. Right now I can't even think of 10 things, but here goes:

I have to read before I go to bed. It's how I unwind.
I adore homemade chocolate pudding.
I hate running for any length of time.
I spent most of my life hating pink; now, I love it!
I never in my wildest dreams thought I would have twins, but always knew I'd have girls (or knew I SHOULD have girls.)
I think bookstores are the best places on earth and could spend an entire day in one without getting bored.
I fell in love with my husband in 11th grade but "lost" him for almost four years after that year because he moved away. Later, he "found" me.
I believe in love at first sight, soul mates, true love, fate, and all of that star-gazy stuff.
I have more good girlfriends NOW than I've ever had in my life, which is weird.
I own a lot of DVD's of movies I love, but rarely make time to watch them.
I'm addicted to People Magazine and usually look forward to when it arrives on Fridays or Saturdays.
I get really frustrated when my People arrives at Target or the grocery store before it gets to my mailbox.
I secretly think I'll write a book and get it published one day. I've started two books, but writing both frustrates and fascinates me.
My headboard is my favorite piece of furniture in the house. It's antique red with cherubs on it. It looks like it would be in an old villa in Italy.
Speaking of Italy, I've never travelled to Europe, and this is my biggest regret.
I plan to travel to England on a "literary" tour- Shakespeare, Austin, etc.
I have a pen pal in England whom I met in 1st grade. Her name is Dawn too.
My parents used to own a Sizzler.
Having parents who owned a Sizzler made me fascinated with McDonalds burgers when I was a kid.
I love planning meals and buying groceries, but truthfully don't cook enough.
My husband is a wonderful cook! His oatmeal cookies are the bomb.
I kept a journal/diary from around 5th grade until after I started dating my husband. I still have all of my journals.
I think I have the best job in the world. I can't believe I get paid to talk about books and college. (Hee hee!)
When I became a Christian for the second time I lost several friendships, which leads me to believe that although people think Christians are judgemental, Agnostics and Atheists can be far more so.
I pray every day- mostly more conversationally or thankfully than anything else.
I faced infertility for years and think my twin girls are the biggest blessings in the world.
I was hours from adopting a little boy who would have been named Nicholas. The birth mom seemed to get cold feet, and I knew in the pit of my stomach I had to back out of the adoption. I still wonder about the baby (who is now around 8 years old.)
I love nothing more than a house full of kids. I adore having my niece and nephew over, and I love it when the girls have friends over.
Herbal tea rocks.
I don't relax enough. It's hard for me to "let go" sometimes and just chill.
I worry a lot and work on giving it to God.
I write poetry.
I love Karaoke.
When I was little, I wanted to BE Olivia Newton John from Grease and Xanadu.
I used to be the best roller skater at the roller rink. :)
I love horses and riding, and have been thrown off a horse countless times.
I'm scared of waves because I've been pummeled in the ocean.
If I watch a sad movie, it sticks with me for a really long time.
I make embarrassing voices for all kinds of things, especially the pets.
I adore pugs.
I have really vivid, long, story-like dreams.
I loved college and miss taking classes.
I've broken my left arm three times: Once, falling off a horse, once swinging off a bar and hitting the playground border, and the third time skateboarding at night.
I've dislocated my left shoulder telling a story.
I wear Clinique Happy and can't smell it anymore, but other people smell it on me. :)
I like really hot baths.
I fall asleep with the tv on.
Once, when I was little, I hid in a store dressing room from my mom for a really long time. She had the whole store looking for me and almost called the police. I knew people were worrying, but I stayed hidden for a looooong time. I have no idea why I did it.
When I watch videos of my girls when they were babies, it makes me want to cry. I miss those babies (even though having twin baby girls was difficult a lot of the time.)
I talk to my mom every day. She rocks.
I like my dad much better now than I ever have. I respect him a lot, too.
I want to read the entire Bible this year, but have been lagging. Leviticus is BORING.
I got caught cheating in high school from Senor Decker. I had written the verb tenses on my jeans.
Worst experience from school #1: P.E. I hated everything about it, including the tight blue PE shorts.
Worst experience from school #2: The bus. Bullies, crazy bus drivers, cold, humilating....just all around terror.
When I was 16-18, I never should have been allowed to have a driver's license. I was a horrible driver!
I adore Target and find it theraputic to push the red cart around the store. When I was pregnant with the twins I rode in the Gramma cart.
I miss my stepson and wish the relationship didn't face so many obstacles.
I was a vegetarian in 12th grade and during my freshman year of college. I became a vegetarian again last year. It started with looking at pictures that stuck with me. (I DO eat fish...so I don't know if I count as a full vegetarian.)
I have started buying products that are "cruelty free" which is more difficult than it seems like it would be.
I buy organic a lot of the time.
Trader Joes is my favorite grocery-type store.
I LOVE sushi, especially spicy tuna rolls. (Speaking of the poor fish...)
I was the worst waitress who ever lived, which is why I worked as a nanny in college.
I wear crazy pajama pants. (Right now, I'm wearing pj pants with candy canes on them.)
I can't stand it when people smoke near entrances and exits to buildings. I abhor cigarrettes, which is ironic since I didn't feel so strongly about them in college....
My biggest fear is anything happening to one of my girls.
I didn't care for high school, but I love teaching high school.
I love being alone.
I don't think I look good with long hair.
I don't mind it when the pugs snore, but I don't like it when my husband snores.
When my husband snores, I pinch his nose until it stops. :( I know it's mean.
I LOVE to stay up late and sleep in.
When I cry, it's hard for me to stop. Once the waterworks get going, it's full blast.
I am addicted to dark chocolate and usually HAVE to have a piece after lunch.
Spiders and crawly insects creep me out. I would NEVER hold a Tarantula.
I think people who ride in hot air balloons are crazy. It just doesn't seem logical.
I'm trying to simplify my life and not make any of it about the "stuff" (which makes my trips to Target less likely to occur.)
I don't care about designer labels or expensive cars. I think it's a waste of money.
I used to shop at the thrift store even though my parents could afford the designer stuff.
I've been to a Grateful Dead show.
I've been punched in the jaw at a Bad Religion show just for pushing a grabby boy away from me, but I've never been in a true "fight."
I once lost my sister's Doc Martin boot in the pit at a Social Distortion show. :)
I'm glad I don't have any tattoos.
I don't care about getting tan.
I love wearing dark polish on my toes.
I bite my cuticles.
I can't stand people who buy pets and then disgard them as if they are "items" and not family.
I would like to adopt a child from another country someday.
I wrote about my current life in a journal entry when I was a freshmen in college...I spelled out all that I wished for, including daughters, pugs, a sweet husband, and a teaching job.
I can't draw.
I collect children's books.
I adore coffee and drink it every morning- but I have to have flavored cream in it.
I rely on Advil too much.
I own a pink mountain bike.
I like history now, but hated it in high school.
I don't look good in hats.
I like shabby chic/antique stuff.
I'm an optimist, but people have disappointed me.
Apparently, self reflection isn't difficult for me!

Spring Break: Part 1

2008-03-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled that we have two weeks off for spring break. I'm calling this "Spring Break: Part 1" because I plan to pack the second week with just as much fun.

We spent Friday at the Wild Animal Park. We walked the entire park instead of riding the tram, which to me was much better. We were able to see behind the scenes at the Elephant Barn and got really close to a male elephant they are planning to move to the zoo. We saw a mama elephant and her baby...precious! The baby was messing around in the water with his trunk and playing with some hay. We saw lions and their cubs up close (the lion exhibit is so cool- they have an expansive area encircled by glass, so we got right next to a daddy lion passed out with his cubs sleeping all over him.) We fed the lorakeets, saw the gorillas, and rode the merry-go-round. I love the Wild Animal Park. :)

Today was Easter, and we had a fancy brunch at our house with the Woods (it was Baby Kathleen's first Easter and she wore bunny ears!) and my parents and grandma. We had Jeff's crepes- lemon blueberry, peach, and butter maple. YUM. The girls had an Easter egg hunt and when everyone went home, we took a short nap on the couch. Later, we woke up and decided to go on a hike. We drove a few miles to the Santa Rosa Plateau- it is SO beautiful up there! I can't believe that such a peaceful, expansive, gorgeous place is only 5 minutes from my house. We hiked over five miles, and Grace was the "trail boss" leading the way the whole time. We saw 26 stink bugs (Grace counted), meadows, and oak trees as far as the eye can see. The area reminds me a lot of the Central Coast in the spring...the hills are green and you expect Ma and Pa Ingalls to pull up in their wagon at any moment. :) It was such a beautiful day to be outside and to thank God for his creation. It seemed appropriate to be in such a lovely place on Easter.

Stay tuned for Spring Break: Part 2. :)

Turkeys and Sheep and Llamas...Oh My!

2008-03-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

We spent last Saturday visiting a ranch... I really shouldn't call it a ranch, but rather an animal sanctuary. My student Kyle invited us out to his family's ranch in La Cresta to see his animals. I talked to his mom and she said, "Plan to spend at least two hours, and bring two heads of lettuce and some carrots."

I didn't know what to expect.

We ended up meeting (and feeding dead mice to) a rare crane, feeding swans, turkeys, and fancy chickens, petting sheep, draft horses, and Buttercup the cow, petting turtles, and feeding a 37 year old donkey. The kids were in Heaven! It was the best day. We also saw a teepee, llamas, and a real working firetruck (that my student bought with money from his chicken business...hee hee). The kids were in awe of the whole thing. It was like having a private tour of a zoo! Of course Emma, my future "ranch owner," was totally content to stay there all day, and even asked me to leave her there.

Someday, hopefully Emma and Gracie will build a giant ranch and have a guest house on the property for their mom and dad. (They'll still want us around then, right? Ha ha ha...)

Gypsi and Emma- A Match Made in Heaven

2008-03-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

Emma and Gypsi are best friends. Gypsi can be the naughtiest pony who ever lived- cantering when she should trot, sneezing in Emma's face, nipping Emma's hands to look for treats, or dragging Emma toward the grass so she can eat. But Emma is in love. In her eyes, Gypsi is her best friend, and if she could, she would stay at the ranch all day and all night. She asked if she could sleep on Gypsi! Emma's best friend has four legs, a fancy forelock, a long tail, and giant brown eyes. I don't know if it's just me, but sometimes I look at the two of them together, and I think Emma and Gypsi are meant for each other. They match! They are bound to be best friends for years to come.

Grace would prefer to play with Jenna, the ranch owner's daughter. Grace swings on the swingset and pets the ranch pig while Emma slips Gypsi carrots, gets one more giant pony kiss, and rides off into the sunset.

The Dog and Cat Party

2008-01-30T20:47:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from the girls' birthday party. It was ADORABLE...probably the best party we've ever had. We played "Dog House"- kind of like musical chairs, only whoever ended up in the doghouse was out. We had a dog bone scavenger hunt, with numbered dog bones being the winners. All the kids danced to "Who Let the Dogs Out" and "How Much is That Doggie in the Window?" We had a "Catwalk" fashion show. We played "Dog/Cat" which was a game where you passed the stuffed animal around a circle and the dog had to catch the cat. Instead of cake, we had "pupcakes" that Jeff and the girls decorated. (They had licorice whiskers!) There was an adoption center, and every guest got to adopt an animal, and they got an "offical adoption certificate." When each kid came into the house, they got dog or cat faces painted on, and received dog or cat ear head bands. It was so cute and so much fun!

Mermaids in the Tub

2008-01-30T20:44:00.000-08:00

Mermaids in the Tub

Emma and Grace are in the tub. I can hear them imagining/playing. They are playing mermaids.

Mermaid Grace- "My mother is poor. All she buys me are rags to sew clothes for myself. All I ever get for my birthday are rags and milk and books."

Mermaid Emma- "Well I'm so poor that I have to make my own toothbrushes. I make them out of hermit crab shells."

Mermaid Grace- "I have shiny rainbow sparkle hair. Every time you see it, you are just amazed."

Mermaid Emma- "Let's say I don't care about your hair. I just have raggy hair"

Seven

2008-01-23T23:20:00.000-08:00

As of tomorrow (1.24.01) I have 7-year-olds.

I just LOVE those beautiful girls.

Grace arrived first- screaming, with painted doll lips and a mohawk. Tiny but mighty. :)

Emma, ever the drama queen, came second, holding her breath. Her hair- duck fuzz. Her rosy cheeks and sweet cry.

I'm in awe of them.

It seems that I brought them home yesterday, bundled up. "It'll never be the same," I told Jeff. "We were two, now we're four. There will always be two more people here."

And there are.

And they are loud. And funny. And crazy. And genuine. And selfish. And loving. And creative. And silly. And beautiful.

I am so in love with them.

And I can't believe they're turning 7!

Yesterday Emma said, "Mama! I'm 7!"
I replied, "No hunny, you're 6! Give me one more day of 6 before you turn 7. You'll never be 6 again. Enjoy it!"
"No, Mama. I'm 7!"
"You're 6."
"I'm sssssssssssseeeeeeevennnnnnnnnnnn."
"Emma- You're six. Be six. One more day."
Sigh. "But six is so borrrrrring."

Grace is not AS concerned about the moment her new age will take effect. Instead, she is my Martha Stewart party planner. She is constantly revising her dog and cat party in her head. She presents it to me like we are collaborating on a 5-course meal for business executives.

"I'm thinking....you know how we were going to have the 'Who Let the Dogs Out' song during our game? Well...I'm thinking we should get more songs on your i-pod to play during all the games. Like...cat songs too."

"Do you know any cat songs, Grace?"

"No. But...I'm thinking there must be some. And Mama... Breemember (I love how she says "remember" and I never correct her even though I should....) Breemember when we thought of painting everyone's face? Well, I'm thinking we can let them choose the color for their whiskers." When Grace is serious she always says "I'm thinking...."

Seven. I don't think there are many ages I like more than (almost) Seven.

Giggles

Love notes: "Mama- You are the best Mama EVER. I love you so so so so so much"

Loose teeth.

Stuffed animals that are REAL.

An incredible compassion for anyone or anything in pain. (Unless it's your sister and you're the one inflicting it.)

Using your dad as a jungle gym.

Pretend. Mermaids in the tub. Horses on the grass. The car? A boat. The loveseat? A stage.

Conversations with the pets.

Santa? Yes. (Duh....)

Tooth fairy? Maybe...

Easter Bunny? No way.

Big questions about clouds, the sky, and flying.

Belief that it would be perfectly fine to marry your dad and live at home forever.

Endless stories that go on and on and on (even-like in that commercial- if you get OUT of the car and walk all the way around to the other side to open the door for them....they're still talking like you can hear them.)

A TOTAL sense of humor (tonight it was for a strange and particularly bad singer on American Idol.)

The absolute need for your parents during a nightmare, a new situation, or any illness.

Tight hugs that really MEAN it.

Seven

Oh, January!

2008-01-13T20:49:00.000-08:00

Pictures: #1-Jeff Smith, circa 1989. Credits to Stephanie Wallace, who lured all the cute punk kids to her house for youth group. (What a baby face!) #2 Grace and me took dozens of pictures like this. We're just sharin' the love! #3 Emma with one of her best friends, Olivia, who turned one on January 9th!

Lots of important dates this month...

Tomorrow is my anniversary. Jeff and I got married 13 years ago! I can hardly believe it. Even more random...I met him as a junior in high school in January, 1989, which was 19 years ago. (He was new to my school.) My classes got switched at semester, and I was put into Jeff's history class. He sat in front of me and I had the hugest crush on him with his long bangs, partially dyed black hair, and ratty t-shirts. I hung out with him until that summer, and he moved away. For the longest time I thought about him, wrote poems about him, and missed him, although I didn't really know why. (We just hung out a lot and kissed a couple of times. Why did his image stick with me?... I wondered.) Now I see it clearly...my future husband was sitting there with his black converse and skater bangs! Our girls were probably humming through the air like pixie dust around us in that stuffy history classroom. The story had a happy ending...although we didn't "find each other" again until 1993 when that boy finally got it right and called/found me. :)

On the 24th, Miss Emma and Miss Grace turn 7! Yowzas! After Jeff and I got married, I was ready to have kids any time. It took us years, 3 or 4 REALLY stressful ones (doctor's visits, adoption plans...yikes.) And it seemed like once they arrived, that first year was just HARD. We were exhausted. Now...those ladies just crack me up every day. Grace tells me she wants to drive a car with "a convertible top with flowers all over it" and that her middle name is "Adorable." If I crack a joke, she says, "Good one, Mama!" Emma, tells me she is going to live next store to me until she's old, looks at me with her serious eyebrows furrowed, asks me about things she's seen on Animal Planet, and tells me she's "not as creative as Grace." :)

I used to despise January. The comfort and coziness of Christmas packed away, the harsh reality of returning to school in Bishop in the dead of winter, when they MADE you go out to recess even if it were FREEZING, and I used to go into the bathroom stall and my legs would be shaking and goosebumpy! The endless second semester. In high school, I was always in trouble in January, grounded from my car, made to stay home.

Now, January is marked with celebration. I feel melancholy, hopeful, and ambitious. Mostly, I feel excited for the two dates that commemorate my favorite people in this life...Jeff and my girls.

The Interview

2008-01-08T21:06:00.001-08:00

The Interview

1/8/08

You are about to turn seven. Tell me how you feel.

Grace: Excited about I'm going to be seven and about the dog and cat party and my presents and I'm excited thinking I'll get dog and cat stuff, like littlest pet shops. And the cake. And the dog and cat ears. And face paintings. And the cake I drew.

Emma- I feel so glad that I could scream. And I'm so excited. It's our seventh birthday and it's a dog and cat party. Those are two of my favorite animals. My very favorites are horse, dog, and cat.

Explain what love is.

Grace: Being nice to people and being joyful. It means you're happy and that person is in your heart.

Emma: Love is your heart. It means...like...caring about people, snuggling with my mommy, snuggling with my daddy, and snuggling with my snuggle pug. Most of all having my whole family around me.

Favorite treat?

Grace: lollypops

Emma: cookies

Favorite kinds of kisses?

Grace: Eskimo kiss

Emma: Mommy kisses

Favorite way to act crazy?

Grace: Run around the house and jump around and make Livvy chase me and then go outside and go down the slide backwards on my back.

Emma: Let Livvy wrastle me.

What are your plans for the future?

Grace: Own a horse ranch.

Emma: I want to be a zoo owner.

If I granted you one wish, what would it be?

Grace: To fly.

Emma: I would have a whole ranch with every animal in the whole wide world.

What is something you worry about?

Grace: Somebody robbing the house.

Emma: When Dad puts Marty outside cuz he goes poopoo in the house.

Describe your perfect day:

Grace: Christmas.

Emma: In the morning it's bright and sunny and I get to go to pony and ride. Then I get to play in my house and play with the dogs. It's a bright, bright day. We have popcorn and watch a movie before bed.

What's the grossest food you can think of?

Grace: Spinach!

Emma: Onions!

Anything else you want to let me know?

Grace: I'm trying to work on a project here.

Emma: I like playing with dogs. I like going to my pony and riding her. I like playing with Livvy. I like to play with Marty, Sophie, and Acer.

Christmas Spirit Abounds

2007-12-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas came in a flurry of friends, family, love, and presents, of course. The kids didn't want to forget the true meaning of Christmas, so on Christmas Eve, they dressed up and performed a play about the birth of Jesus. :) Megan narrated and played a strange flute (I think it added to the mood!), Gracie played the glittery Christmas angel, Emma was Mary (wearing the Pocahontas outfit) and Ian was Joseph. Adorable, silly, and hilarious.

The girls got sleds and snow gear from Santa. Jeff is chompin' at the bit to take us to the snow. We're planning to spend the day in Arrowhead with some friends, and then later we'll pay a visit to Grandpa Tom and Grandma Patty in Bishop, where we'll sled our little hearts out. Our house feels like a toy store right now, with Grace's Hannah Montana barbies, stage, headset, and game, and Emma's horse ranch, Littlest Pet Shop town, and Webkins. Jeff got a new ipod (he's thrilled) and I got every single item I had "hinted" to my dear husband about: Clinique perfume, and iced tea maker, a Bath and Body Works Lotion basket, and Burt's Bee's stuff. (Love it!)

We hosted Christmas Eve again, and that night we also stopped by The Woods house for Open House- really it was to see their new baby, Kathleen, who was adorable in her Santa suit. (Our friends The Byuns were there as well with Mikail and Jade. Note in the picture that sweet Mikail had eaten something that made his lips blue. ) Other friends, the Saylors, had a beautiful Christmas dinner at their house a few days before Christmas. On the day we got out of school, Nicole also spent some time with us looking at Christmas lights and letting the girls exchange presents. (See the pictures of Grace and Josie dressed up and performing puppet shows.) Also, Jeff's dad and Kelly had a beautiful Christmas at their house, complete with Jeff's mom and Tom, my parents and grandma, and ALL the cousins except Matthew (who was missed!) They catered the dinner with enchiladas and tacos (YUM) and had the most beautiful spread of desserts I've ever seen. :) Weight Watchers is currently calling my name after the food this Christmas! The girls got all kinds of fancy "stuff" for their American Girl dolls- Nicky got an entire ski outfit and Kit got a bed. It was DOLL HEAVEN this Christmas.

This year I feel blessed for my family's health, my wonderful friends, my job, my house, my pets (hee hee), and my sweet husband who seems to live to make "his girls" happy. I also adore watching Emma and Grace becoming bigger and more clever. They CRACK ME UP every day, and they are such a joy (and challenge sometimes...especially when they fight!) I know that 2008 will bring such changes in my girls; I just want to savor each moment with them as they wrap their arms around the experiences life brings them.

Tis the Season to be Jolly!

2007-12-20T14:16:00.000-08:00

Our city does a really cute event for Christmas. Every neighborhood has a giant star on one of the streets and a special night when Santa visits. He comes aboard a "sleigh" of carolers, along with Frosty and Rudolph. He collects canned food for the needy and gives out candy canes. The carolers sing, the kids in the neighborhood visit with Santa, and the grown ups in the neighborhood hang out talking. When it's time for Santa to come, the girls listen each night for the police sirons, which go off through the neighborhood while they announce, "Santa is coming! Santa is coming!" over the loudspeaker. (I guess the police aren't too busy with crime here...??)

The girls were also in a Christmas play at school called "The Littlest Reindeer." This year, every student had a speaking part. Emma and Gracie practiced their parts for weeks, and all around the house, we were singing the songs from the play. A lot of their friends were in the play too, and it was so cute to see all of the first graders singing without hesitation. They don't care if they are slightly out of tune, or a little "off" from the music. They just sing their little hearts out. I wish we were all like that. :)

Christmas Time is Here...

2007-12-08T10:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas time is here!Grace welcomed Christmas by creating Santa's sleigh on our couch with all of our stuffed Christmas animals and some red crepe paper. I love that child's imagination. Emma is not feeling well (we're all a little sniffly around here) so she's in her pink elephant slippers and Cinderella robe, cozed up on my bed watching movies. It's mid-morning and the girls and I are still in our pajamas. My plans for today? Danielle and her sniffly kids are coming over to watch a bunch of movies. Later, I'll grade some essays, wrap some presents, and plan my Christmas Eve dinner, which was so much fun last year.

So far in December, I've hosted Grandma Otti's 91st birthday (it was a hit!), gone to our school's adorable Christmas play, Charlie Brown Christmas, with a bunch of my teacher friends and their kids. (We even met early for pedicures and dinner, and met afterwards for dessert! I had snowflakes painted on my toes!) I've decorated the house, done 3/4 of my Christmas shopping, finished and mailed my Christmas cards (including my Christmas poem!) and planned a Christmas outing to Corvette's Diner and the Del Mar Racetrack light show. Everything "Christmasy" is in place. Still, nothing will come together until the last day of school, when I grade that last final, enter in the grades, and close up my classroom for three and 1/2 weeks. THAT will make it feel like Christmas. I love that feeling of focusing on my husband and my kids, and not feeling spread so thin (even though I adore my job.) Some days, though, it feels as if there is just not enough of me to go around. I'm ready to zero in on the people who need me the most. I want to make dinner for Jeff instead of asking him, "What do you want to eat? Should we go out?" I want to sit in my cozy chair next to the bookshelf that Jeff built (my favorite room in the house!) and read books to the girls. I want to decorate Christmas cookies and package them up to send to the neighbors. I want to put my feet up and have a glass of wine. I want to hit those last few stores with my mom and Danielle, and then go to lunch. I want to sit with Grandma Otti and ask her some questions about when she was a little girl. (She tells a bunch of funny stories, but then denies she told them.)

Thankfully, a teaching schedule gives me huge chunks of time to relax and soak in my family. I'm grateful for all of it- the hectic schedule AND the down time. I truly know the meaning of BLESSED.

PS. Our Christmas card this year- a decorated pony. We had so much fun putting red bows all over Pony Gypsi, and she didn't mind it a bit. :)