Out - Please Leave a Message

I must be kinda dense. I don't know why anyone wouldn't enjoy doing something like this. Thanks to MommieN. for joining me on yet another adventure.This little day trip couldn't have come at a much better time. My kids were getting ready to leave on a ski trip for the week...something I've got completely irrational paranoia about...and birthday season always has me a little stressed out. Just one more birthday to go, thank goodness. I'm looking forward to ice skating this weekend with a bunch of 8- and 9-year-olds, but that just means I've got a cake to get started on.

I don't talk about it too often because it makes me a buzzkill, but I really hate skiing. I hate just about everything about it. I enjoy the "whee!" factor a bit, but not enough to overcome the things I just detest...the cold, the people constantly threatening to run me down, my own lack of skill and confidence.

So, when the kids came back on Friday, I snuggled up to Mam one evening and told her I felt badly that both my kids love something so much that I really don't enjoy. I said that I'd missed them and that it was strange to be here all by myself. I didn't say so, but I really don't enjoy being the odd person out either.

"Well, it's kind of like hiking, Mom," Mam said, trying to placate me. "You really like that and we DON'T."

I didn't know what to say. Mam was obviously unclear that my problem had more to do with spending activity time alone than with not having an activity to do. I might've preferred a stake through the heart to a declaration that no one likes hiking but me. 

How in the world did I produce these people?? And what am I going to do with them for a weekend in this same state park this summer?

11 - Tiggers are Wonderful Things

This:

is my 11-year-old. Even though at-home, old-fashioned birthday parties are appparently passé, he still wants me to make his birthday cake. Cute. Of course, I've set ridiculous expectations in this regard. Silly me. It started with the Curious George cake, then the Elmo cake, the 3D train cake, the fire engine cake, the Spiderman cake, the soccer field cake, the Superbowl cakes, the chess cake (ooh, that one kinda rocked!), the SF Giants cake, the laser tag cake, which gets a lot of hits on Google...I'm sure I missed a few in there.

This year, Smunch wanted to go to a trampoline place for his birthday. It made for an easy cake idea at least. The idea was easy. The execution is never quite so easy...especially with increased hours at work and such. It just meant I had to start early. I made lots of colors of fondant.

Smunch wanted a yellow cake with strawberry and whipped cream filling. Done.

And if he was going to have a trampoline party...well, then..it had to look like a trampoline, didn't it?

And if it was going to be a kids' party, there had to be kids...or else it was just going to look like some funny, stripey cake decoration thingy.

Very P.C., huh?

If there were going to be kids, they were going to have to be jumping, somehow. Fortunately, I made some basketball dunking penguins once upon a time. I almost felt experienced with this sort of thing.

I got this done around 11pm, the night before the party...and then added a border to the bottom the next morning because I just can't leave well enough alone.

It's pretty impossible to take pictures of little boys jumping on trampolines in a dimly lit warehouse. I tried, but the cake was probably a pretty good approximation of what it looked like anyway. I gave up trying to get a real photo and took a picture of one of the TVs they had monitoring the trampoline dodgeball arena.

Geez. That looks just like...a birthday cake!

So, Smunch successfully turned 11 and had a bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy party with his friends (who are a pretty awesome group of boys, I might add) on his birthday.

And even though I got more pictures of cake and little fondant people than I did of the sweaty little 10 and 11-year-olds, I think it was all a raging success for everyone.

On the Good Ship Lollipop

At our elementary school, third grade is a big deal for lots of reasons, but the Famous Americans report ranks right up there near the top. You might remember that Smunch became Jackie Robinson a couple of years ago. It was a huge deal, not just because he stutters, but he had to memorize a five-minute presentation, come in costume and have a certain number of props. It was stressful, both for him and me.

This year, Mam chose to be Shirley Temple Black. I'd never really thought of Shirley Temple as having contributed that much to American society, so it was fun to learn more about her. Not only was she a very, very famous little girl, but she did some interesting things as an adult too. She was a delegate to the U.N., she was an ambassador to Ghana, she was ambassador to Czechoslovakia and she was the first female chief of protocol in the United States. That's kinda cool.

Know what else is cool? The third grade teachers finally decided this year to turn this into a real third grade project. The kids wrote almost all of the presentation themselves, they didn't have to memorize anything, costumes were optional and props were mostly absent. So much more low key and so much less stressful for everyone involved...unless you're sick on the day of your presentation, as Mam was. Then it's kind of sad to lay your curly little tresses on the sofa all day.

But Mam got to perform on Wednesday instead of Monday...and that was just fine. We got to do a "dry run" on the curls and make sure they worked out. She had fun sleeping in foam curlers and she did a great job with her presentation, despite only just being well enough to be back. She made good eye contact, read slowly and clearly and had more poise than I've seen her have before.

This one is super hard-headed, but she's going to do whatever she wants to do with her life...whether you like it or not.

40...again

There is a reason I don't plan big events. I tried it once several years ago and learned that it completely stresses me out. I'm not even worth being around because I'm so worried that things will go wildly wrong. But this year, I put all those fears aside to organize a 40th birthday party for my sister...in San Diego. I figured her husband wasn't likely to do it and no one really deserves it more...besides, her birthday is the day after mine and they fell on a Friday and Saturday this year. What better excuse to go spend my birthday with my sister??

So, after months of planning, a friend took me out to breakfast and dropped me at the airport on my birthday. And I hopped a plane to San Diego.
Unfortunately, I hadn't uh, say, read the instruction manual for the new camera lens I've got. I didn't realize you could turn the image stabilization OFF. Who'd want to do that, after all?? Not me. Except it was...until Sunday. So I have a lot of blurry pictures. Whatever.

Leaving my nephews at home with their dad, Karen and I set out for a nice dinner...all.by.our.selves. We had such a good time catching up, drinking pomegranate martinis and ordering too much food. I should drive to San Diego just for dinner once in a while. Well, maybe not really, but it's fun to pretend.

Saturday was party day. On the recommendation from one of Karen's friends, I booked the "back room" at a wine bar in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego. I'd corresponded with the manager via e-mail and talked to him on the phone a couple of times. But gosh, doing things long distance is always so sketchy. I'd ordered a cake the same way. I found a commercial kitchen that made wedding cakes and had a good online reputation. It was near Karen's house, so I ordered a cake from them. I thought I'd ordered a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and coffee mousse filling, but it didn't quite turn out that way.

O.K., so the frosting's the wrong color, but they wrote the right thing on top and it looks pretty...sorta. The gum paste flowers are lovely, but why are the roses so...uh...white. They're beautiful, but really, really chalky-looking. O.K., now I'm kind of freaking out about something totally ridiculous...and I'm thinking I could have made her a prettier cake (whether that's true or not), so I had Karen drive me to Michael's to buy some "lustre dust" and paintbrushes. I took the roses off the cake and brushed them with color so they weren't so darned pasty.

The first bunch was...well...experimental and reminded me of that children's book The Pinkish Purplish Bluish Egg. Ever read that? No? It's about a mourning dove who finds a funny-colored egg and it hatches into a griffin named Ezekiel. Oh, nevermind.

The second set of roses, I brushed with yellow, decided I liked them and left it at that. I carefully rearranged them all on the cake again and set about resuming my daytime job as a relatively normal person.

I left early to help a couple of Karen's teacher-friends decorate the room at Wine Steals. The room wasn't quite what I'd envisioned, but I think it was probably better that what I'd envisioned. It was a cozy little room in the back of the restaurant. We had our own little private wine bar, food and great company. Karen's friends are a blast.

Who knew elementary school teachers were such fun on the weekends? Well, other elementary school teachers, apparently.

Even our parents, who had also made the trip from the more northerly reaches of California, seemed to enjoy themselves.

If anyone finds this blog while looking for information on Wine Steals, I'd have to say the manager at Hillcrest, Nick, was super nice and easy to work with. I wish I'd caught the name of our wine pourer because she was fantastic. Once I figured out how to get my laptop all hooked up, the stereo system was great, the wine was good, the food was yummy. I don't have a single complaint. We had so much fun!

I'd brought some large truffles as party favors...and I had to take a picture of them because I was so proud of how cute they looked.

And that cake was pretty yummy too, despite the white frosting. I'm certain no one would have looked twice at the pasty white flowers, but at least I was secure in my knowledge that I'd done my part to make the party a little more colorful...well, by coloring the flowers, and drinking three glasses of wine.
Considering I was in a room full of strangers, the party was over far too soon. I'm so glad I put forth a little effort and it turned out so well. I've got an awesome sister. She deserved a great 40th birthday...and then some.

Buzzzz

You know those parents who just can't help bragging about their brilliant, good-looking kids? They're kind of obnoxious. And honestly, I don't know many of them.

On the whole, it seems like most kids are remarkable primarily to the people who are genetically related to them. If you bother to get to know any child, however, you'll find that they're all pretty darned remarkable in their own ways. Sometimes it just takes something special to bring it out.

If you read this blog with any regularity, you'll recognize this picture as my firstborn, Smunch. Of course, you might not recognize him without a baseball uniform on.

He loves baseball. He enjoys school. He's pretty good at math. He likes science. He's got a great group of friends. He plays football or wall ball every recess. Kids like him. Teachers like him. He's pretty bright. He's got a great sense of humor. He's also a stereotypical elder sibling. He's responsible, organized and on top of his own work. He's also responsible for beating on his little sister. At home, he probably watches too much TV. He likes the History Channel, the Weather Channel and the Discovery Channel. Admittedly, his favorite shows are still probably America's Funniest Home Videos and Wipeout!. He's almost 11, but he still smiles when I show up at school, wants to walk next to me on the way to the library and occasionally wants to hold my hand. I'm painfully aware that these sweet little gestures of affection are dwindling and I appreciate them as they're offered.

Despite all I know about my son, I didn't know he had any special knowledge of world geography. But every year, his elementary school hosts a school-level National Geographic Bee for the 4th, 5th and 6th graders. It's affectionately known as the GeoBee.

Before the holidays, all the upper graders were treated to seven geography questions that might qualify them for the GeoBee finals. In Smunch's class, he was the only one to get all seven questions correct...because he knows stuff and because he got lucky with the questions. Only ten students made it to the GeoBee finals, but he was a shoo-in. Anyone who got six questions right was subjected to a tie-breaker round. The ten finalists are pictured above. Smunch is the one with the white shirt.

I was not there. Another mom who, uh, didn't have a hard-to-reschedule hair appointment, was kind enough to send me the photo.

Smunch apparently came second in this round. His friend, C must have come first. That meant the two of them faced off in the championship round yesterday. I had to work and I don't work close by, but I wasn't going to miss it, especially once Smunch said he'd like me to be there.

The rest of the crowd consisted of 20 or so other students, mostly girls, Smunch's teacher and his grandparents. (His dad was traveling on business.) Smunch completely ignored us when he walked in the room. I didn't think he looked nervous, but he later told me he was and I'm thinking this picture suggests that too.

...or he was just really stiff and alert after coming in from the crisp morning air or something.

The GeoBee is a big deal, so I was surprised to learn that the championship round would be only three questions. The boys would listen to each question, write the answer on a piece of paper on a clipboard and then tell the moderator (a sixth grade teacher) what they had written.

The first question was pretty easy, I thought. Bozeman, is a town 140 miles North of Yellowstone Park. In what state is Bozeman? I realized quickly, however, that Smunch was going to say "Wyoming"...because I'd just been on a trip to Yellowstone Park and my trip was to Wyoming. C. also happened to know that Yellowstone is Wyoming and they both answered incorrectly.

The second question: What is the name of the chain of volcanic islands that extends 1,200 miles off the West coast of Alaska? I knew that one, but I was sure that Smunch didn't. And I had no clue what C. knew about Alaska. He's a smart kid. So, when the moderator asked Smunch what he'd written, you can imagine how blown away I was when he said "the Aleutians". Dang. C. made an educated guess and said "the Alaskan Islands".

This was Smunch's look of relief at being right.

The last question was about South America. The island of Tierra del Fuego is shared by Argentina and what other country? I've heard of Tierra del Fuego, but I didn't know anything about it. I never would have gotten that question right. Smunch said Brazil. C. said Peru. At least they both chose countries on the right continent! (The answer is Chile, in case you had a burning need to know.)

And just like that, the contest was over.

Perhaps my proudest moment came next. It wasn't when the teacher put a medal around my son's neck. It was when my little boy reached out to shake his friend's hand. C. wasn't looking for it and didn't notice at first. But Smunch tried again. They're such nice boys and such good sports. I don't think C. will begrudge Smunch anything.

And with that, he was out the door, with nary a look at his mom. Off to stash his medal in his backpack and go play football with his friends.

Apart from a nice certificate and his name on a plaque in the school office (if they ever update it...it's already missing the last two years),

Smunch's other reward as GeoBee Champion is to take a written test next week.

The written test will determine if he qualifies to go to the state GeoBee contest in Sacramento in April. Not sure he'll make it to that level, but it sure would be a fun experience!

Packing it in

The holidays are mercifully over.

I've always liked Christmas. I like finding just the perfect present for people. I don't always succeed, but I enjoy trying. And sometimes I'm surprised when something I was excited about goes over like a lead balloon or something I gave little thought to is the giftee's favorite thing. I like the cookies. I like our big family breakfast. I like having a sparkly tree in my living room. I love having all the kids here, cousins and all.

I'm so glad it's all done. The holidays were difficult and awkward this year, despite all the things I still loved about them. I never got the icicle lights on the house. I'm too scared of the high peak above the garage. I didn't make truffles. But I did just about everything else, and then some. I didn't make it to yoga. I didn't make it to pilates. I made it out for one very short hike. I didn't fare too well.

I got a lot of sleep after the holidays. Then I finally made it to a pilates class and hired babysitters so I could spend some time at work. Things started looking up enough that I managed to make a fun last day of vacation with the kids. Starting with...

pancakes, of course. There's nothing my kids like better for breakfast. They won't even go out for pancakes if Mom's pancakes are an option. I'm very flattered. And now that I have a griddle built right into my range, I'm totally loving it.

Mam does not, however, like to be photographed while eating said pancakes.

After breakfast, I promised to take the kids ice skating. We have a really cute little outdoor rink that's pretty local, but it's open for only two hours in the afternoon for people who aren't taking lessons. I opted instead for the seasonal rink in our nearby "big city".

It's sponsored by Kristi Yamaguchi and Hawaiian Airlines, so I guess it's required that the rink be under the palm trees.

Friday was "Aloha Friday" and we got in cheap for wearing Hawaiian clothes. I'm so darned cheap, I actually went by Diddams and bought the kids leis to wear. We looked pretty silly out there ice skating in our "Hawaiian" duds and long underwear, but we had fun anyway.

Smunch may have complained bitterly about his skates being hard to skate in. He said he'd never had hockey skates before. But it's amazing how long children can be entertained by skating around in circles. It's California. It got kind of warm, the rink got pretty watery and Mam ended up very wet, but she still didn't want to stop. We stayed for an hour and a half and then I announced it was time for lunch.

I don't know a lot about places to eat downtown, but I knew one restaurant that would get them there, just with its name.

And it was a short walk from the ice rink. So they both had spaghetti and I treated them to Oreo shakes afterwards.

Somehow, our little adventure seemed to take up the entire day. I was so thankful that they had fun...and that I'd gotten to have fun with them.

Baseball Player

In baseball, sometimes you get the ball...

and sometimes the ball gets you.

Despite what his coach referred to as "more blood than I've ever seen" coming from Smunch's nose after being hit by an errant one-hopper, Smunch still ended the week looking better than his little cousin, I think.

It's tough being two.

Cousins

It makes me happy that my kids are friends with their cousins on my side of the family. I was Smunch's age before my first cousin was even born, so it makes it that much more fun to see my kids interacting with my sister's boys.

Given my general success with Christmas photos, you might wonder why I'd be interested in taking all the kids to a cheap studio for photographs, but it's kind of fun to have someone else do the work from time to time.

Thankfully, we scheduled these photos for Saturday. Although Lucas! had taken several face-altering tumbles by then and Spencer! had given himself a goose egg on the forehead the previous afternoon, Lucas! had a couple more tumbles after this, making it look like he'd been in an altercation with an angry guinea pig...and Smunch hadn't yet been hit in the face with a baseball.

Hard to believe Mam's the only one who survived the holidays intact, but then, we've got a couple days left...