Happy Mother’s Day!
Yikes! I was so busy all weekend, didn’t get a chance to personally call/write/e-mail all the moms in my life– Hope it was a great one!!
L.A.
Many apologies for the dearth of posts. (*Thank you to all the comments. Unfortunately many valid ones are buried in a sea of spam. Sorry if your comment takes a while to see the light of day!) Many changes have uprooted us but it’s all for the better. The move took us quite far– L.A.! The hubs may travel/work abroad so we felt it best to be near family to wait out the transition. That said, we have been quite busy since setting foot down to our (my) roots. Finishing potty training (yeah!!), visits to and from relatives, seeing old friends, hanging out with the family, exploring L.A. Proper now and then, it’s been a whirlwind. In addition I am doing my best to strike a balance between all this and devoting time to my online certificate course in natural healing and herbs. Here are some random photos and when I can make time to get up the photo gallery there will be more: Aunty Gail, the twins & I getting ready to leave Co; Year of the Tiger celebration; playing with an awesome toy Coco brought over for the twins to play with; a visit to the Alma Mater mascot bar, the 49ers Tavern in Long Beach!
Waiting to board our L.A.-bound flight from Colorado!
Photo opp during Chinese New Year with the Tiger!
All the babies together!
Go 49ers!
Merry Christmas!
Christmas Day is finally here and now we enter the final phase of the move. Postings will be intermittent, hope it’s a nice Christmas and Happy New Year for all!
Surprise Santa!
Coming out of Wal-Mart today the Salvation Army bellringer told us to hurry and get a picture with Santa. I didn’t even know he was there but just down the way was a huge Coca-Cola semi and a neat little photo set-up. It was the PERFECT opportunity to get the twins situated on Santa’s lap, take a photo– and tell on them!
I said, “Santa, can you remind them that bedtime is time to go to sleep?” Charles Wallace, the most guilty one, seriously looked like, “Oh shit.” It was the most hilarious thing and I had to really fight the laughs. I think Santa did, too. After he reminded them to mind Mommy I asked if I could call him if I needed to. “Of course,” he said, “or you can always e-mail me, too.” Then his little elf gave us a printed photo right then and there, it was so neat. (I also got a file of it so if you want a copy just comment or contact me.) Santa sure has become pretty hip to today’s world with helicopters and e-mail, sheesh! (Photo courtesy of the Coca-Cola Caravan!)
Thank you, Coco!!
Just wanted to give a hearty thanks to Coco, the Original Baby and the twins’ older sister, for running from one McDonald’s to the next all over L.A. in search of the elusive Rainbow Dash pony. (Grandmommy, thank you for looking, too. I know you were relieved when Coco located what must have been the last of this little filly’s kind!) Here the twins react to the little package in the mail last Saturday. Rainbow Dash got on well with the rest of the ponies. She’s a nice addition to the stable and everyone is very happy, especially Charles Wallace and Erin Grace!
Unforgettable!
So, just found out I’m sort of famous . . . sounds cool, huh? But what you do when, um, it might involve stalker-like obsession! A friend of the ex-who’s-the-artist sent me an e-mail recently. In some gallery in NYC, Summer ‘09——–>
<—— Someplace in Taipei, Sept. ‘09. This is ginormous!
Some kind of ’80s homage?? Actually I have to admit it looks kind of neat, but how do I put an end to this without any hassle? Shoot me an e-mail, guys (you know who you are, non-commenting, private e-mailing friends from *****!), please advise 
Maaad for My Little Pony!!!
So, the twins have been really into My Little Ponies lately. They received a very nice stable and corral for their 3rd birthday from my parents. It’s wood, has a removable roof for playtime and sliding doors on its four stalls. It’s a beautiful low-tech toy. A few months after getting it the pony craze began.
It’s a good thing I’d found a lot of barely-used ponies for dirt cheap at the local thrift store (score!) in Phoenix last year. I thought they’d interest Erin Grace only, what a surprise. Robert was a little miffed at first as he hoped the cutesy, sugary-sweet ponies wouldn’t appeal to Erin Grace– and they didn’t. At least, not until Charles Wallace took to them a few months ago. Robert was like, “My son plays with pastel-colored horses.” There’s not really grooming or accessorizing; he loves to line them up, sort them and just play with them in general like he would his Thomas trains and cars and trucks. So does Erin Grace.
Out of sheer curiosity I decided to do a quick search online to see if any other little boys like My Little Pony. The simple answer is a resounding YES. They seem to like the collecting and lining up like Charles Wallace does and they watch the cartoons, etc. Some even have My Little Pony room decor and birthday theme parties!
I was surprised to find there was even a line of boy ponies in the late ’80s. They were called “Big Brother Ponies” and had hairy hooves and wore bandannas (lol!), according to the wiki.
Anyway, the greatest find of my google search is the art of Mari Surinen. An example of her altered and modified ponies is pictured, “My Little Han Solo.” Not only is it some great work but also a brilliant parody and makes me laugh everytime I see it. Robert now, of course, wants all the Star Wars & superhero ponies so he can play with the twins, haha!
Click the photo to go to Mari’s page, it’s incredible. She’s done Batman, The Joker, Capt. Jack Sparrow and Elvis to name but a few. Her art is for sale, too. Check her out!
Modern Santa
Yesterday we got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus fly into town in a rescue chopper and land at one of the lakes. It was quite a sight. Charles Wallace brought the gathering crowd down when asked by Robert, “Who is that?” he answered, “Spider-Man!” Everyone had a good laugh and then dusted us as they ran to get in line for Santa & the Mrs.
45 min. to an hour after waiting in line with two antsy, restless toddlers we were next in line. It was minutes to go when Erin Grace sat on the floor in a spot of spilled hot chocolate! I didn’t place her on Mrs. Claus because of the wet spot’s potential to stain her white dress. However, after the professional photo Santa didn’t seem to mind so we took another quick one w/him alone, hot chocolate spot and all, shown to the right. Here the twins have their first candy cane from Santa.
Niece Milestones
Sometime last month my sister-in-law Julie sent me a link to view our niece’s Senior photos. Wow! Kids today are so lucky. Click on her photo to see an incredible slide show of her Senior Portraits. It’s just amazing how savvy their world has become with technology touching just about every facet of their lives. I’m at a loss for words when I think on how archaic and “plain” senior photo sessions of ‘88 now seem, lol. Julie’s daughter Andre’a will be graduating in June and last I saw her she had expressed some interest in forensics, something that’s always held a certain fascination for me. Good luck, Andre’a!! May your senior year be the best!!
Another niece with a milestone is the newlywed Marina. Congratulations to her and her new husband, Aaron. We were unable to attend but hear it was a very nice ceremony and reception down in the San Diego, CA area last month. Thank you to Charlotte and Christine for providing photos. Time goes by so quickly because I can remember meeting Marina like it was yesterday, as the cliché goes. She was not even in high school and now she’s a married woman! I guess I would feel old . . . if I looked it. Haha! Anyway, best wishes to the new bride and groom!
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween to everyone, hope it’s a nice & fun time for all eating tons of sugared creations and playing with the little goodies that seem to be very popular these days in lieu of candy. This year the twins are finally aware that the stuff people give them is actually edible so I’m trying to think how best to let them go at the candy– little by little or just one big typical kiddie gorge, lol.
After a couple days of snow it turned out to be a nice clear day, allowing us to go trick-or-treating this afternoon along the town’s Main Street where many businesses passed out Halloween goodies to costumed kiddies big and small. This Halloween Charles Wallace is a knight and Erin Grace is a dragon and I’m thankful the costumes could keep them rather warm. What a difference from last year when we lived in the Phoenix area. It was so warm I didn’t think the twins would last in their costumes (a bumblebee and Batman) for the trek around the neighborhood. We stopped at one house where a lady was camped out in front with a table of treats– candy for the trick-or-treaters and a pitcher of something alcoholic for her, what a relaxing way to partake in the holiday
This morning we went out to play in the huge piles of snow on the deck. The twins had a great time sliding down their little Mommy-made mountains, making snowballs, and throwing them and eating them, too. Too bad they can never LOOK AT THE CAMERA AT THE SAME TIME, d’oh! 98% of the time I am too exhausted to keep after them to get a great shot so if it happens, it happens. Hopefully I can get a nice photo of them tonight in their costumes once more and speaking of which it’s time for me to git as nightfall is approaching.