Sebastopol Swim Meet

We missed yesterday, but made it to the meet today, and it was so much fun! It seriously could not have been a more gorgeous day - full of sunshine, swimming children, smiling proud parents and the smell of the most amazing grilled burgers EVER!!! (They tasted good, too!)

Ma-lak and Rea both competed in the 50 Freestyle and the 100 Backstroke. The 100 was a little long for them, but they didn't give up and both did great! Rea even won her heat and won 2nd place overall in the Freestyle!! Hooray, Girl!! You are such a joy!! Ma-lak was quite the trooper - still getting over his cough/cold, but he hung in there great and persevered! We love you, Sweet Boy!!

I loved how this particular pool area was laid out - it was attached to a park and in a gorgeous wooded area so that you could spread out and set up your little "camp site" for your family!

Next meet up is Napa in two weeks, and they ALL get to swim!! Look out, here they come!!

Ready to Go Home!

Ya'shar cracks me up in the "group shots" - I guess he wasn't in the mood for more pictures... :)

Go Neptunes!!!!

Staying Out of Trouble

Since only Ma-lak and Rea swam today at the meet, these two were a little bored... They will be thrilled at the next meet in two weeks because they'll be competing, too! Luckily today there was plenty of dirt to play in.

More Hot Air Balloons!!

It was such a pretty drive to Sebastopol this morning, especially with this view... Have I mentioned how much I love hot air balloons?....

The Fabulous "Baker" Boys...

My little men decided they needed a turn in the kitchen. I totally agreed. So we whipped up some Cocoa Rice Crispy Treats, a pumpkin cheesecake, and are now working on pork chops for dinner. Love these little guys!!

Accessorize!!!

Announcing fun and affordable "make-it-yourself" hair accessories! All you need is a piece of paper, markers, and a paper clip! Make yours now!!

Early Morning Musings

I'm only sipping my first cup of coffee (with pumpkin spice creamer), not fully coherent, but getting there...

What a gorgeous day! I know I've blabbered on and on about how much I enjoy fall, so I won't indulge in any more well-deserved accolades, but MY it's pretty out there!

Yesterday I drove up to Healdsberg to make some headway on a work project with a friend. She took me to eat at a charming place in Geyserville called Hoffman House for breakfast! It was at a vineyard, and silly me for not taking my camera. It's the scenery that autumn nuts like me live for! Ah well, another time....

It's been an enjoyable week off work, but I feel like I've been busier than if I were working! I've been taking some continuing education days/classes, and that's been a nice break from the norm. Medical Spanish rocks!! What a great class and so much fun! I will try with all my might to keep up the momentum and keep learning and practicing. I would rather communicate with my patients with my really bad grammar than not be able to communicate with them at all!!

The kids were supposed to have a swim meet today in Sebastopol. OUTDOORS. Eeek. We had them all signed up, but due to Ma-lak having a horrible cough for the past two days and Daryle and I being EXHAUSTED from our busy week, we decided to play hooky and sleep in. HALLELUJAH!!! It felt so good to wake up WITHOUT an alarm for a change, although I did wake up at 6:00.... Oh well! Hopefully we can make it to the meet tomorrow, these meets really are quite fun, looong, but fun! The kids can't wait, their competitive hearts are ready to get out there and splash it up!

OK, cup of coffee #2.... With peppermint mocha creamer this time, I like to mix it up.

The holidays are coming and this always means lots of travel plans for the Smiths! Either someone's coming or someone's going, but it's all good!

This year David is going to my parents' house for Thanksgiving, which is a first! It's a pretty quick trip from Baltimore, and he's looking forward to meeting some extended family, eating "good, non-college-food cooking" and watching lots of football with the guys!

Usually my parents are able to get out here in late January, but this year is a special treat because they'll be here over New Years! We are so excited and the countdown is on! David will also be home for an entire MONTH, so our house will bustling with activity, just like I like it - with brief interludes of peace and tranquility, of course. :)

Blessings to you all!!!

Life's Little Pleasures

What a great surprise to see so close on my way home from work this morning!!

I love hot air balloons... I don't know why, but I'm always so drawn to them! And I actually get to see them a lot around here because there are several places out towards the coast and over the vineyards nearby that do rides.

It must be a magnificent view from up there.... It sure was from down here! The pictures didn't capture the gorgeous, bright vibrant colors because of how the sunlight hit it, but it was sooooo cool! Just a huge ball of color hovering over the horizon!! One of these days I'm going to hop in one and go for a ride!

But in the mean time, I'll enjoy these little unexpected pleasures from down here!

Happy Columbus Day!!

What do Ya'shar and Christopher Columbus have in common??

1. Very adventurous
2. Love to explore
3. Really dig boat rides
4. Look awesome in hats!!!

Tree Hugger

I've had a little "green thumb" type of crush on this tree for almost a year now.... We met last December at the public pool when the kids started swim lessons. I could spend hours gazing up at this tree and sometimes I do. (They're long lessons.)

It's not really that impressive or unusual of a tree at first glance, but if you're sitting right underneath it (as I am several days a week) you notice how it's limbs reach out, stretching and embracing all who gather around. It's true - many of us have sought refuge under those arms when an unexpected shower lets loose and we are caught sans umbrellas. We feel much safer there.

And when the wind catches it just right, this tree sways a certain way that reminds me of a daddy dancing with his little girl. If I listen really closely I can almost hear giggling in the rustling leaves! Almost....

I think I like trees because they somehow seem wise and trustworthy - most of them have been around a long time, you know. To me they represent strength and accurately placed trust. A sure thing that is not so easily up-rooted by any little wind of change.

I find myself sighing in contentment when I'm enjoying their shade, watching their vibrantly changing leaves, or appreciating the view from their highest limbs.

Maybe, just maybe, this is why I find such similar comfort in this scripture:

"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit."
(Jeremiah 17: 7-8)

Lord, let me be planted firmly in you, and make my leaves GREEN!!!

Lunch Box Line-up

When Ma-lak went to kindergarten, school lunch was $2.00 per child, and that was quite manageable. Obviously, every year that I added another child to the school system, the "situation" became less than ideal. The last couple years I tried to reason with myself that the convenience of just paying for school lunches outweighed the inconvenience of trying to work full time, plan healthy lunches, buy the food, and then pack them everyday. For four children.

Well. We got through August because that was a short month. And then September 1st came, and I went to the lunch lady to pay ahead for the whole month, like I usually do. She kindly informed me that the lunches had gone up to $2.75 per child, per day. There were 21 school days in September.

My head-math informed me that I was about to write her a check for $231, and her calculator confirmed it. I recalled how many times my children had come home the past 3 weeks starving and complaining that they were supposed to get a choice of 2main courses everyday but they had run out of something or the other and only got a PBJ sandwich.

And that's when I had the epiphany. My sister insisted that it was merely her "intervention" being successful when I boo-hooed to her on the phone about my dire straights for the past 3 years and she kept trying to talk me into just packing their lunches. Whatever you want to call it, it worked.

I promptly went to the mall and bought 4 clearance-priced lunch boxes for $2.99 a piece. I went to Walmart and bought 4 mini thermos-es for $11.96 a piece and 4 gel ice packs for $.99 a piece. I bought a 4-pack of boxed Capri suns (40 count)for $5.99 at Costco, along with a huge variety pack of baked chips and pretzels, and more grapes than Napa Valley itself could produce in a year.

I declared that Monday was "Sandwich Day", and you could have whatever you wanted for lunch as long as it was a sandwich of some sort. Tuesdays are now Pasta/Casserole/Rice Day and Wednesdays are Soup Day. Thursdays are "I Want Sandwiches Again" Day and Fridays are Leftovers/Eat Whatever You Want as Long as a Protein and Vegetable are Involved Day.

It really helped that we rolled this out last week when my sister was here to ensure that I adhered to our plan....

So far so good. No one has traded their carrots for a fruit roll-up, at least not that I know of.... They are coming home with empty lunch boxes are always excited to plan what to put in it the next day.

And my favorite part? Leaving them little notes in their lunch boxes!!! Well, that and not writing a check for $231 every month.

Let the assembly line lunch boxing continue!!!

Ma-lak

Ma-lak insists that he doesn't know how to smile. I'm nearly convinced that he's right since this was as close as we got. Will have to sneak up on him in a candid moment, I guess!

This guy is blowing me away this year. He is doing so great in school, and is maturing a lot in his behavior. I learned today that he was moved into 4th grade math and reading because he's mastering the 3rd grade stuff!! Yay, Ma-lak!!

On our way to school everyday the kids and I play this little game where I'll ask them a fun random question and they all have to tell me their answers, how they would respond or what they would do.

The other day the question was, "When you guys are old enough to drive, what kind of car would you like?" (I have no idea why that came up, but it was very hilarious to hear their responses!)

Ni'ke decided she wanted a motor home like Grandpa and Grandma's, and Rea wanted the "kind with no roof and no windows". (A convertible? Yes.) Ya'shar mentioned something about a Transformer, and Ma-lak announced:

"When I'm a grown up, I don't care what kind of car I have, but all I know is that I'm going to have TWO cars!!" When I asked why he needed two, he said, "Well, I'm going to be doing a lot of driving around, so it's good to have a spare."

That's my smart boy!

Rea

Rea is at that adorable stage where she likes to leave notes for everyone in the funnest places. This one was on my pillow the other night! I especially like how she signed it, "Your member of your family." Glad she cleared that up. :)

The other picture is a negative proof from her school pictures from a few weeks ago. They all turned out so good this year, even the boys who always do that tight-lipped fake smile thing! The photographer always takes their pictures outside in the natural light, and it must've been particularly windy that day because all I could think was, "That's a lot of hair!!"

So imagine all that hair wet - and a very large chunk of it wrapped tightly around a fine-toothed 10 inch comb. This done all in efforts to play a newly invented game with her sister after bath time called "Fashion Hair Style".

After 40 minutes of working to pull out each hair, one strand at a time, I called my mom and dad in a panic, sure I was going to have to chop all the hair off one side of her head. Daryle was out of town and unavailable to advise me, but I'm sure the advice would've included anything but cutting off his baby girl's hair.

Enter my dad, who calmly and sweetly said to me on the phone 2000 miles away, "Well Sweetie, I wish my arms reached that far to be able to help you out, but you're gonna have to go over to your neighbor Clyde's house and ask to borrow some side-cut diagonal pliers. I reckon that'll do the job." Huh?

Well, I found metal-cutters from a different neighbor and managed to somehow not cut any fingers off. He talked me through spreading her hair apart and whacking the base of comb into little pieces (18 to be exact) and an hour later I was left with just a knot the size of my fist to comb out, challenging, but do-able! My daddy is so awesome!!

Did I mention this all went down the night before my sister flew in? Such excitement, but a happy ending.

After I got the rat's nest combed out of her hair, she asks me, "Can we watch Tangled now??"

So fitting.

Ni'ke

The big scrape on her forehead from falling off the back of the couch was the least of our problems last week. That would be when my little petunia got a detention.

The detention, interestingly enough, did not come from her inexplicably shoving her good friend Alejandra, but from running and HIDING from the teacher to avoid getting in trouble afterwards. That back-fired. And if it hadn't been for her narc-happy brothers and sisters, I wouldn't even have known about it b/c she threw away the evidence (detention note to parents) and didn't informed her home room teacher that she even GOT a detention, and then she didn't even serve detention the next day. Well she served it on Monday.

Oh dear.

We had a good chat about how honesty, no matter brutal, is ALWAYS going to go better than deceit. I told her about the time I pinched a little girl standing in line next to me when I was in kindergarten, just because she accidentally bumped into me while we were walking, and I was sent to the principals office and threatened with the big paddle if I did such a thing again. A lot's changed since 1979, huh?! I would've definitely chosen detention. I told her I hardly ever got in trouble at school after that and hoped she would do the same thing.

Her response?

"So what did the paddle look like, Mommy?"

Ya'shar

And my baby lost his first tooth.... (sniff, sniff, sigh)

I guess it was bound to happen, this growing up thing. But so fast??!! I'm just not prepared! I would be quite happy with a little growing up, however, when it comes to being assured that this child will not make poor choices that could drastically affect his health and safety.

That's right, a prelude to "the story."

I direct your attention to the very faint yet still detectable glimmer of mischief glaring out of his eyes in the other photo. Yes, I do think it accurately depicts a child, who not unlike his brothers and sisters, has a proclivity towards sticking things in his bodily orifices that most certainly don't belong there.

I take you back 3 years to when Ma-lak stuck the tail of a toy dinosaur in his ear, acquiring a nasty infection that gobbled up 2 weeks worth of antibiotics and most of my trust that he was old enough to know better.

Oh and let us not forget his little sister Ni'ke who stuck a barrette in her mouth and accidentally swallowed it, thus requiring surgery in Oakland to remove it from her esophagus and shortening my lifespan by 20 years in the process.

Rea's above story speaks for itself, although her choice of self-destruction has so far been limited to winding and whacking only her hair. (I purposefully did not mention the time she broke her brother's arm, since we're focusing on SELF-destruction here.)

Which brings us to my sweet little Ya'shar, who started having brown "goo" drain out of his ear about a week ago. I, being the un-excitable mom-nurse that I am attributed it to a likely infection from all the swimming that he does, and since he didn't have a fever or complain of it hurting, I did what any good do-it-yourself nurse would do and found some antibiotic ear-drops from one of Daryle's previous ear issues and treated him myself. The goo disappeared after a few days and I felt quite proud of myself.

Fast forward to the morning we were getting ready to leave for the airport (a week later) to take my sister back, and Ya'shar woke up with his ear draining brown nastiness again. I cleaned it out and restarted the drops, grateful that he had no fever or swelling in his neck and he said his ear didn't really hurt. Strange. So Monday morning arrives and his ear seems fine, but I wanted to take him to the ENT just to be sure, and of course he couldn't see him till Friday. So I took him into my regular family doctor's office to see one of her colleagues.

As soon as he looked in the "bad" ear and said, "Hmm." in that mystifying way, my heart sank, and knew what he was going to say.

"Well, it looks like there's something in there. A piece of paper or something."

It took several tries and two different tools to retract the wadded up piece of paper the size of a MARBLE from his ear, but he finally got it.

And what did Ya'shar have to say for himself? "I was bored."

Oh yes, he did.

This little adventure apparently took place at CHURCH nine days prior. The piece of paper? Oh, it was the church bulletin.

"Lord, open our ears to your Word." Amen.

Pier 39 San Francisco!

What a great week! Last week we were blessed with a visit from my sister and her two kids. And we could NOT have had a more perfect week! The weather was gorgeous and warm, the kids had a blast playing with new play-mates, and my sister and I just pick up where we leave off... :)

The timing of their flight coming in last week worked great with school schedule. I dropped the kids off at school and got on the freeway, their flight was on time, and we spent a couple hours at Pier 19 and had lunch before getting home to get the kids.

Yes, I was a picture freak the whole time!! I posted so many on this post that lots of them went to the archives, so be sure to click on "older posts"!!!

I love my family!! Please come again soon!!!!