About a week ago, I emailed Sam's room parent wondering whether they were going to have a Halloween party. Earlier this week, she let me know that yes, there was going to be one, but that she was just going to ask the first 5 parents on her list to bring things and she'd hit the rest of us during the course of the year. No problem.
This morning at drop off, she tells me that there is one mom she's been emailing, calling, etc who hasn't gotten back to her and could I please bring the fruit. Of course I said yes. Which, since I have a baby who's feeling under the weather, meant I called Nacho and told him to pick up some fruit.
Fast-forward to 6:30 tonight. As I am a)making dinner, b) cutting up fruit and veggies for the party tomorrow c)making cupcakes for Nacho's work and d) trying to entertain 3 kids (ok and e) probably snapping at Nacho because I.JUST.NEED.SOME.HELP), the phone rings. It's our room mom and apparently the other mom just got back to her and of course is bringing the fruit. Now, I don't blame our room mom at all. She's got a thankless job and I know I wouldn't want to be the one trying to organize all of this. And if she weren't the one doing it, I would have been the one to sign up and I just don't have the time for it this year. Or the patience.
Guess those kids will be eating LOTS of fruit tomorrow.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Culture & History
Yesterday I got to spend the day at a grown up. After brunch with my crew, I headed off into the world of adults. It was amazing. My grandparents had two extra tickets to the San Francisco Opera and invited my mom and I to come along. I've only been to the opera once before, as a teenager, when even as a music lover, I didn't fully appreciate it. I'm still not an opera lover, but the one I saw yesterday - "The Daughter of the Regiment" was wonderful. It was funny. And clever. And had one of the most amazing singers I've ever heard - Juan Diego Florez.
Not bad on the eyes either, right? But this man hit 6 - count 'em SIX high C's in one song. Amazing I tell you! And we had perfect seats.
As we were driving home, my grandfather asked my mom (who was driving) if it would be ok if we drove through the Presidio. My grandfather retired as the Commander of the Presidio, and my mom spent a lot of her teen years living there on post and he wanted to show me the house they lived in. I had seen it as we would drive by the Presidio on the way to the airport and it sort of had become a joke - "there is the house" as we would drive by at 60mph (or whatever the speed limit actually is there). But this would give me the first chance to see it up close and personal. I have to say the Presidio is beautiful. The best view of the Golden Gate ever. And now that it is no longer a working Army base and instead a National Park, people are free to go in there. Anyways, my grandfather showed me where his office was, where command was, where the Commanding General lived, where he lived, where the golf course is (which I found was very important to him!). My mom showed me where she hung out - sometimes to the suprise of my grandfather! Although not an active base anymore, they have converted barracks and officers' quaters to apartments and houses, so people still live there. As a matter of fact, my grandfather told me that their old house has been occupied continously since they left.
I don't think I have what it takes to be an Army wife (and kuddos to those who do!), but I could feel the sense of community and comradre there, even though it's not a post anymore. I would love to be part of community like that.
I don't know why we've never driven through the Presidio before. It's such a nicer way to get from the city to the Golden Gate and it's so interesting. Maybe someday soon I'll take Nacho & the chicklets and we can explore it some more. Especially now they've opened the Walt Disney Family Museum there!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Disney Princess vs. Raider Nation
Interesting match up? We thought so too. But that what it was when we took the kids to see Disney on Ice: Princess Wishes on Sunday to celebrate Lu's 4th birthday. And I should take the time to mention now that I am a horrible mother for not giving her birthday due recognition here with its own post. She did however have an entire weekend that was all about her, so I hope make up some points there.
Back to the match up. Disney on Ice was held at Oracle Arena at 10:30. The Raiders had a home game RIGHT.NEXT.DOOR at 1pm. And by right next door, I mean they share a parking lot. And if you know nothing else about Raiders fans, it's that they take football seriously. Which means the parking lot opened up at 8am for people to start tailgaiting. And tailgate they did. They were nice enough to open up a back parking lot for the Disney people and bus us in to the front of the arena, but apparently decided getting us back after the show wasn't quite as important. And who knew people liked to pay the parking fee to tailgate and not actually go into the game. Because when we came out they were still tailgaiting, even though kick off had been 30 min. before. So we got to walk our beautiful, sweet, innocent children through the Raider Nation. People this is the kind of stuff I'm talking about:
(in an effort of full disclosure, we didn't actually see anybody who looked like this. Well only one. But I know that they were around)
I'm sure they're very nice people, but frankly they scare me. They were playing the Eagles and I thought about a shout for my friend Christy, but then I remembered I was SCARED!
Anyways, the show was great. I was actually surprised at the quality of it. But I do have to admit, listening to all the music made me want to be back in Disneyland. But really, is there ever a time I don't want to be there?
And I was very proud of my husband, who despite being so close to his team (he's a non-scary Raiders fan), didn't try to escape the Disney Princesses once. That I know of. After waiting 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot after the show, we turned on the Raiders game on the radio. And much to our chagrin they were winning. WHAT?? The Raiders winning. They almost never do that. And much less against the Eagles. We got home in time for the second half, except of course it wasn't televised. Because the Raiders are normally so bad that if they don't sell out a home game, they aren't on TV. But hey, they actually won this one!
And for the record, I am a born & bred true 49ers faithful.
Back to the match up. Disney on Ice was held at Oracle Arena at 10:30. The Raiders had a home game RIGHT.NEXT.DOOR at 1pm. And by right next door, I mean they share a parking lot. And if you know nothing else about Raiders fans, it's that they take football seriously. Which means the parking lot opened up at 8am for people to start tailgaiting. And tailgate they did. They were nice enough to open up a back parking lot for the Disney people and bus us in to the front of the arena, but apparently decided getting us back after the show wasn't quite as important. And who knew people liked to pay the parking fee to tailgate and not actually go into the game. Because when we came out they were still tailgaiting, even though kick off had been 30 min. before. So we got to walk our beautiful, sweet, innocent children through the Raider Nation. People this is the kind of stuff I'm talking about:
(in an effort of full disclosure, we didn't actually see anybody who looked like this. Well only one. But I know that they were around)
I'm sure they're very nice people, but frankly they scare me. They were playing the Eagles and I thought about a shout for my friend Christy, but then I remembered I was SCARED!
Anyways, the show was great. I was actually surprised at the quality of it. But I do have to admit, listening to all the music made me want to be back in Disneyland. But really, is there ever a time I don't want to be there?
And I was very proud of my husband, who despite being so close to his team (he's a non-scary Raiders fan), didn't try to escape the Disney Princesses once. That I know of. After waiting 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot after the show, we turned on the Raiders game on the radio. And much to our chagrin they were winning. WHAT?? The Raiders winning. They almost never do that. And much less against the Eagles. We got home in time for the second half, except of course it wasn't televised. Because the Raiders are normally so bad that if they don't sell out a home game, they aren't on TV. But hey, they actually won this one!
And for the record, I am a born & bred true 49ers faithful.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Come and Knock on Our Door
We've been waititng for you.....
We're constantly being told by people, mostly family, they the don't see the kids enough. Yet they ALWAYS expect us to bring the kids to them. It would seem to me, that if they feel they aren't seeing the kids enough that they would make the trip to us. But they don't. They'd rather call and complain. And the excuse I just can not wrap my head around is that we live too far away. Umm, do they not understand that the distance from them to us is the same exact distance from us to them? So why is it not too far for us to drive? And hello, we're the ones with the 3 kids. Yes our decision to have them, but it's far harder for us to pack them all up to go somewhere.
And it's not like we hibernate in our house all the time. We go the family events and birthday parties. And I like to feel we go a lot to just hang out. And if people don't want to come hang out here, that's fine. But then I want them to realize that they are making a choice not to see the kids. So quit complaining about it.
We're constantly being told by people, mostly family, they the don't see the kids enough. Yet they ALWAYS expect us to bring the kids to them. It would seem to me, that if they feel they aren't seeing the kids enough that they would make the trip to us. But they don't. They'd rather call and complain. And the excuse I just can not wrap my head around is that we live too far away. Umm, do they not understand that the distance from them to us is the same exact distance from us to them? So why is it not too far for us to drive? And hello, we're the ones with the 3 kids. Yes our decision to have them, but it's far harder for us to pack them all up to go somewhere.
And it's not like we hibernate in our house all the time. We go the family events and birthday parties. And I like to feel we go a lot to just hang out. And if people don't want to come hang out here, that's fine. But then I want them to realize that they are making a choice not to see the kids. So quit complaining about it.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Table Foods
Jack is really getting the hang of table foods. For dinner tonight he had sweet potato fries, cinnamon rolls, pumpkin spice bread & Activia vanilla yogurt. In other words - a dinner consisting of Costco samples.
I'm expecting my mother of the year award in the mail any day now.
I'm expecting my mother of the year award in the mail any day now.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Fall Fun
We have a local pumpkin patch that is in a state park and it's only open two weekends a year. One of those weekends always falls on Lu's birthday, which is next weekend, so this weekend was it! It's a great pumpkin patch with crafts for the kids, food, hay rides....and of course pumpkins!
We think Jack may be allergic to hay. Or just plain tired of me trying to get that ever allusive group shot. Because this is what he did EVERY. SINGLE. TIME we put him on the hay stacks.
And y'all thought he never cried ;) Truthfully, I think it was the hay because anytime he was around it his nose turned bright red and his eyes started to water.
He did have some fun times though!
I never did get that "great" group picture I was after. This is the best we got.
You can see the irritation they have with me in their eyes. Is it my fault they can't all look at the camera AND smile? I think not. And I warned them that I would keep taking the picture until the cooperated. But after about 15 even I gave up.
We did get a nice family picture though
After the pumpkin patch we headed to Six Flags again. We have season passes, so we've sort of been going when we feel like it, which makes it nice because there is no stress to get everything done. This time of year is also a lot of fun because they have it decorated for Halloween & they have a trick or treat trail for the kids. I'm looking forward to how they decorate it for Christmas. It won't be Disneyland, but it will still be fun.
And we apparently did all of this at the right time because our weather reports are showing that we're getting hit by a big storm tomorrow, which is supposed to dump rain and bring winds in excess of 60mph to our area. Yeah, I know some other parts of the country are already dealing with snow, but this is California and for us this is BIG!
We think Jack may be allergic to hay. Or just plain tired of me trying to get that ever allusive group shot. Because this is what he did EVERY. SINGLE. TIME we put him on the hay stacks.
And y'all thought he never cried ;) Truthfully, I think it was the hay because anytime he was around it his nose turned bright red and his eyes started to water.
He did have some fun times though!
I never did get that "great" group picture I was after. This is the best we got.
You can see the irritation they have with me in their eyes. Is it my fault they can't all look at the camera AND smile? I think not. And I warned them that I would keep taking the picture until the cooperated. But after about 15 even I gave up.
We did get a nice family picture though
After the pumpkin patch we headed to Six Flags again. We have season passes, so we've sort of been going when we feel like it, which makes it nice because there is no stress to get everything done. This time of year is also a lot of fun because they have it decorated for Halloween & they have a trick or treat trail for the kids. I'm looking forward to how they decorate it for Christmas. It won't be Disneyland, but it will still be fun.
And we apparently did all of this at the right time because our weather reports are showing that we're getting hit by a big storm tomorrow, which is supposed to dump rain and bring winds in excess of 60mph to our area. Yeah, I know some other parts of the country are already dealing with snow, but this is California and for us this is BIG!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Heartbreaking
Yesterday was a day full of family fun for Team Lua. A trip to the pumpkin patch followed by an afternoon at Six Flags. I had planned on posting about that today....and I will, but right now I've got something else on my mind.
While we were at the pumpkin patch, I ran into an old friend. I guess friend is the right word....although recently we had drifted apart. We started as best friends in Jr. High, grew apart in high school, but rediscovered our friendship when we shared a class our 2nd year of college. I was with her when she did her final fitting for her wedding dress. She was one of the first to know I was expecting Samantha. We had children, her 1st & my 2nd, a month apart. Circumstances required her to return to full time work, so that added to real estate she had started doing kept her busy. And understandably, the free time she did have she wanted to spend with her husband and son. So in the past few years our friendship has been a few emails here and there, Christmas cards, etc.
We ran into her & her husband a few months ago in Target and found they were expecting again...a baby boy due right around Lexi's birthday. Yesterday I saw her at the pumpkin patch - holding a baby boy, too old to be her's, but not visably pregnant anymore. The baby boy is her nephew. And she told me the heartbreaking news that they had lost their son in her 31st week of pregnancy. For those who haven't recently been pregnant, that is 6 weeks away from term and 9 weeks away from her due date. Apparently he just stopped moving and the autopsy they performed didn't give them any more information. He was born in the middle of August. Two months ago. How I wish I could have been a support to her then, instead of finding out over two months later. All I can do now is offer my support now. After hearing the news yesterday, I thought about where I was at 31 weeks pregnant. Nurseries ready, gearing up for baby showers, looking forward to delivery day which didn't seem that far off. My heart breaks for them. For their baby boy.
While we were at the pumpkin patch, I ran into an old friend. I guess friend is the right word....although recently we had drifted apart. We started as best friends in Jr. High, grew apart in high school, but rediscovered our friendship when we shared a class our 2nd year of college. I was with her when she did her final fitting for her wedding dress. She was one of the first to know I was expecting Samantha. We had children, her 1st & my 2nd, a month apart. Circumstances required her to return to full time work, so that added to real estate she had started doing kept her busy. And understandably, the free time she did have she wanted to spend with her husband and son. So in the past few years our friendship has been a few emails here and there, Christmas cards, etc.
We ran into her & her husband a few months ago in Target and found they were expecting again...a baby boy due right around Lexi's birthday. Yesterday I saw her at the pumpkin patch - holding a baby boy, too old to be her's, but not visably pregnant anymore. The baby boy is her nephew. And she told me the heartbreaking news that they had lost their son in her 31st week of pregnancy. For those who haven't recently been pregnant, that is 6 weeks away from term and 9 weeks away from her due date. Apparently he just stopped moving and the autopsy they performed didn't give them any more information. He was born in the middle of August. Two months ago. How I wish I could have been a support to her then, instead of finding out over two months later. All I can do now is offer my support now. After hearing the news yesterday, I thought about where I was at 31 weeks pregnant. Nurseries ready, gearing up for baby showers, looking forward to delivery day which didn't seem that far off. My heart breaks for them. For their baby boy.
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