The Soggiest Spring Break of ALL Time!

California is not so sunny these days. There has been A LOT of precipitation in the last few weeks. After a 9-hour drive, we had quite the exciting weekend in Tahoe. We took along our friends Laura, Jackson and Pierce. With three kids along, 9 hours seemed like a lifetime, even though they were great travelers. When we got there, we spent an hour digging our way into the condo (okay, Mark did all the digging, but it was his idea to go:) Then, when he finally got to the door he realized he had the wrong set of keys. OMG...seriously. So after several calls to the condo association and maintenance, we got into the condo and out of the cold. Despite our best intentions to get outside and have fun, there were 15 foot snow walls and drifts which made it difficult to do anything but stay inside by the fire. Sadie and Jackson took lessons on Sunday and were officially icicles by the end of the day. Mark got in a few runs with his new board - so it was all good. We're super proud of the progress that Sadie made this season and that she stuck with it through good weather and bad...she's skiing like a champ. Here are some pictures of snow...

I-80 was closed off and on all weekend, so we jumped at the chance to leave on Sunday evening. We wanted to be back in time to meet my family on Monday evening. My mom and dad brought Sadie's cousins, Brennan and Braden, down to visit for their spring break. Needless to say, it's been a soggy spring break! They came down to see us, but also to enjoy some sunny weather and go to Great America. Not so much. It has been pouring the last few days. We've made the best of it though and we've gone ice-skating, spent a day at the California Academy of Sciences, watched some movies and just played at home. The boys have been good sports and love playing with their little cousin, which is pretty cute. Brennan is about twice as tall as Sadie now and still he has the interest in hanging out with her when he's not on his Nintendo DS. Braden has had his fill of pizza and cheesecake and fashion shows (he's the only audience Sadie can get, poor guy). Unfortunately, they head home tomorrow. Time flies when you are on vacation! Here are some pics from our week together...

Bunker Hill Fun

Bunker Hill is always a blast, however, holidays and birthday parties kick it up a notch...believe it or not. Sadie had a great time celebrating St. Patrick's Day this year. We don't make a big deal of it at home, but the teachers at Bunker Hill have created the tradition of making leprechaun traps. The kids re-purpose those green, plastic strawberry baskets, fill them with green glitter and other decorative items that they think will be attractive to the little guys and then place them delicately in the woods surrounding our school. On the 17th they go out and check the traps hoping to find one of these cute, if elusive, little men. What they find is gold and other special goodies. I wasn't around for it this year, but it was great fun in 3-Day. Unfortunately, no little men were found, but there was some fairly compelling evidence that they had been at school: little green fingerprints on everything, green leprechaun dust, green "water" in the toilets, etc. To honor the occasion, Sadie asked to have her face painted and was careful to wear only green!

We also celebrated the 5th birthdays of the twins in Sadie's class - her friends James and Natalie. Never try this at home! The kids had a blast, but I don't think I've ever witnessed such utter chaos. Good times! :)

Bunker Hill comes to an end in a couple of months, so we're trying to squeeze out all the fun we can!

Becca's Birthday Tea Party

Sadie recently hosted her first party - a birthday "tea" for her friend Becca. Sadie and Becca have known each other for about 2 1/2 years now...when you are 4 1/2 or 5...that's almost a lifetime. It's been fun to watch their relationship change and grow over the last couple of years. In truth, they are more like sisters now and Sadie NEVER gets tired of spending time with Becca. Even after a full day of playing at school they still want to go to the other's house for a play date or go to Peet's for hot chocolate.

Sadie planned the menu which included fruit, crackers and cheese, cookies and of course, mini-cupcakes...chocolate and vanilla with sprinkles. The cupcakes we bought at Vanilla Moon, our favorite little San Carlos cupcakery. The "tea" was ruby-red grapefruit juice and sparkling grape juice. I threw in a few veggies for good measure.

In addition to Becca and her mom Julie, we also invited our friends Colby, Amelie and their mom Erin. It was a small but fun group and a good time was had by all! The following Sunday, Becca invited Sadie to an afternoon at Disney on Ice - they had a great time.

Having had such a good friend while growing up (yes, I'm talking about you Amy) it's very satisfying to watch Sadie develop such a wonderful friendship...one of the best parts of life! Happy 5th Birthday Becca!

Always Playing Catch Up...

I know I was a productive person once upon a time, but lately I feel like I'm always trying to catch up. This week has been a particularly crazy one but I'm not really sure why. Yes, we had an appointment for shots, a field trip, Sadie's school auction, ice skating lessons, craft night, and now we are hosting a birthday tea party for Sadie's BFF Becca and a happy hour for Mark's work friends tomorrow. That's just the pace of life now and it's taking me a long time to get used to doing all of it with Sadie in tow. I suppose I'm still productive...just in a chaotic sort of way.

We are registering Sadie for Kindergarten on Monday and so the last couple weeks have been full of doctor appointments and shots. She's growing a like a weed (43 inches) and still not gaining any weight (36 lbs.) though her eating habits have improved immensely. Last night she had Madras lentils, quinoa and roasted cauliflower for dinner. See? Major improvement over grilled cheese and Goldfish. Anyway, I digress. Back to Kindergarten. We hope that we won't have to camp out to get her into our neighborhood public school, Central Elementary. I'm looking forward to all the new things "real school" will bring and a little worried about others, but I'm sure it will all work out in the end.

We've all been enjoying our bi-weekly CSA box and Sadie is growing ever more adventurous - last week she ate an entire bulb of fennel and last night a fresh mango - again, the WHOLE THING! We've been enjoying the fresh fruits and veggies so much that we are getting ready to embark on our own organic gardening project. Mark and Sadie built the frames last week, while I watched the Oscars and now we are waiting for our soil and researching compost bins.

We got some good ideas yesterday on our visit to Elkus Ranch, with Sadie's Pre-K class. The next thing I really want are some chickens, but I don't know how that will go over in Belmont...

A few of us from school have started a craft night and so this week I finished knitting matching pom-pom scarves for Sadie and Becca to wear to Disney-on-Ice on Sunday. They are going to celebrate Becca's 5th birthday.

Also, I'm really enjoying my (guilty-pleasure) reading of The Hunger Games trilogy. Yes, I know it's for kids, but still an interesting read and I figure since Byron loaned them to me, it's a step up from watching Glee.

Just thought I'd catch you up on what's been happening here. Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Dad! Pictures of Becca's tea party and the weekend festivities to come...