May

I had big plans for some heavy duty blogging tonight, but unfortunately I sliced off the tip of my ring finger as I mandolin-ed some sweet potatoes earlier this evening to make sweet potato chips. (Side note: has anyone had success with baked sweet potatoe chips? I have tried a myriad if different cooking times & temps and they always come out soggy or burnt. I'll take your advice now, please.) As seven-finger typing is frustratingly inefficient, I shall try very hard to exercise restraint and keep the commentary to a minimum on this post, lest I stay up long past my bedtime to finish. Without further ado, highlights of May:

1. Trip to San Fran with Will and the bando kids. I love LOVE this city. We spent a lot of time around Pier 39 again because the kids love those touristy spots where they pay tourist prices to eat the same food they eat at the mall food court at home, but there were plenty of fun things that were new to me-
     -hiking to the top of Coit Hill (see pics)
     -a Giants game
     -symphony at Davies Hall (we sat next to a lovely lady who had hand-picked her seat 35 years ago when the concert hall was built, and had not missed a single Friday night concert since, which is some impressive consistency. Brushing my teeth is the only thing I think I've done every Friday night for years, and even that is a little iffy...)
     -San Francisco's Bay Aquarium

McDonald's in Barstow, made from old train cars. It was a long haul on the bus from Henderson to San Fran, but this stop in Barstow garnered a Diet Stewart's Orange and Cream and Chiclets, great palliatives for the road-weary. 

The iconic San Fransisco streetcar

Stairs leading up to Coit Tower, at the top of a loooooooong descent. But the view from the top is magnificent.

That long descent to the top is 174 steps to be exact, but I'm telling you, it feels like 176, at least.

Davies Hall, downtown San Fran in the background, overly-enthusiastic smiler in the foreground 

Chinatown, it should be noted, is a long but manageable hike from Pier 39. Even middle school kids can do it. They won't like it; but they'll do it.

Giants game at AT&T Park, where you can get a wonderful meal of french fries and caramel corn for the totally reasonable price of $36.00.  

The Aquarium of the Bay hands out these little paper hats for those who think headgear enhances one's experience at an aquarium. Posing awkwardly for the camera in said hat obviously enhances the experience even MORE.

 2. Trip to Idaho- to pick up my kids, selflessly watched over by my two sisters and my parents while Will and I were in San Francisco. Driving to Idaho by myself was quite a treat. I love my kids, but road trips with them are no longer the high pleasure they used to be for me.

Cousin water balloon fight. 

 3. The first cavity in our family, an honor which belonged to Charlie. And it was actually two cavities. I knew that he would be fine with drilling, but would not handle shots with any grace, to put it mildly. As it turned out, they just popped on some laughing gas and went right to work without any anesthetic, and he did great. Giggled quite a bit, as a matter of fact.

I'm so jealous Charlie got nitrous. I've never had the opportunity to get high for legitimate medical reasons. Or any reason!

4. Reader's Theater in Charlie's 1st-Grade class- There was an awesome parent who came into Charlie's class every week to work with his reading group and she helped them put together a little reader's theater of the fable of the wind and the sun. It was cute. But now that I'm looking at this picture Charlie's mask I can't remember, nor can I tell, whether he was the wind or the sun... I'm such a great mom.

Charlie in his ...(wind? sun?) mask

 5. Trip to Utah for nephew Taylor's blessing- As much as I dislike road trips with the kids, when they get excited for a trip to Idaho or Utah, it reminds me so much of when I was a kid, and I love it. I try to remember that when I'm climbing into the backseats for the 73rd time to hand out snacks/fix DVD players/ pick up blankies that fell down/ wipe hands etc.

While we were in Utah I tried to run up to the Y. I was a little big for my britches and parked the car down on campus.  By the time I got to the trailhead I was starting to think long and hard about how badly I wanted to RUN up the Y. Not that badly, I decided a little later.  Lucky for me every BYU student and his significant other/FHE group/ wife and small children had decided the same thing, and short of hollering "Everybody MOVE!" Fezzik-style, I couldn't move through the masses very quickly anyway. And this is how red my face is when I sort-of run up mountains.

6. Antonia's end-of-the-year program at Miss Marsha's Mini-School (the classes and the pupils are mini, the school itself is regular-sized. Because how would they learn to read if they can't even fit inside the building?!)  The theme for the year was something to do with caterpillars, but the significance of the yellow vests escapes me at the moment. It was a cute program, in spite of a tense moment when the background music wouldn't come on and the kids had to sing a capella. I don't think the kids noticed at all, but I'm pretty sure at least one of the teachers almost had an anuerysm. I should have offered to accompany the kids with some beat-boxing. Or something.

Antonia's MO as a performer is to NEVER look at the front, lest she be led astray by the teacher/coach who is doing the motions for the kids to follow. She has her eyes locked on the kids next to her the whole time and takes her cues from them, thereby adding a helpful 2-second delay; so just in case a particularly cute part happens and I wasn't ready with my camera-- not to worry!--Antonia hasn't done it yet!

My favorite song from the Miss Marsha's repetoire: "Happy and Sad"  Notice how the kid next to her is already back on "happy" and she's still in "sad" mode.

Antonia's big moment in the spotlight: the pig in "Old McDonald"

7. Mother's Day- Very early on in our marriage Will got the memo about bringing me breakfast in bed on Mother's Day and has since enlisted the help of the helpiest helpers Charlie and Antonia. Now, in addition to pancakes (Will has a pretty truncated list of specialties in his arsenal) I get hand-crafted cards from my favorite little Hallmarkers. The latter half of the day was not so heart-warming, however; I got a flat tire on the way home from church, and then Eve threw up all over the couch.  I guess the universe didn't get the memo about going easy on me on my special day.

And a few other random items of note, plus some pictures and quotes:

One day I found Eve giving Antonia's toothbrush a swirly. I told Antonia she could put something of Eve's in the toilet and not tell her what it was. I get a lot of my best parenting ideas from old episodes of "Seinfeld."

Charlie asks me almost every day when he can have his own room. I guess he's starting to get to that age when little sisters are uncool and girls have cooties.

Sometimes I have to text Will as he sits up on the stand at church that his tie looks like it's drunk.

Eve is a biter. And a pusher. I live in fear that one of these days I'll pick her up from the nursery and have to hear a mortifying story of a wound she inflicted on one of her classmates.

I committed the near-cardinal sin of mistaking a silpat for a cutting board. It was not my silpat. I thought it was a cool rubbery cutting board that wouldn't slide around the counter top, okay? I'm sharing so that you can all learn from my error, in case there is anyone else left in the world who doesn't know what a silpat is, besides my dad.

I tried to get a little "21 Jump Street"/80s music video vibe going with this brick wall,  but no one would do the poses that I had in mind...

Quote-able Quotes

Antonia: Mom, can giraffes close their eyes and walk and not crash into things?

Antonia: My favorite things in the world are buttons, chairs and sunsets.

Me: Charlie, your pillowcase is pretty darn dirty.
Charlie: Yeah, sometimes a whole bunch of water comes out of my mouth when I'm sleeping.