Good Friends + Good Food = Good Times

Here's my entry for Sketchmania #27. You can join in the fun here - you have until the end of the month to get your layouts/cards submitted! Almost everything in the layout is from Sassafras Lass (a big change from me) - except for the cardstock stickers (Making Memories) and the red cardstock (DCWV).

Relaxing today...

We were pretty wiped out after a day of AYSO on Saturday, so we really enjoyed hanging out with some good friends that evening. The kids (with Daddy Dude) enjoyed a nerf gun fight, complete with forts. =)

Sunday, as some of you know, is sports day for the adults in the household. I had two soccer games today (and could barely walk/run for the second game, since my plantar fasciitis was killing me, despite taking some ibuprofen beforehand - it certainly didn't help that the grass hadn't been mowed in a few weeks) and then the girls and I dashed off to catch the last bit of Daddy Dude's baseball game. Apparently, this is what it looks like, right before you get hit by a pitch (see picture above)! He got hit by two pitches (this is painful - those baseball are flying in at 60-70 miles an hour - more if you're really unlucky) on the leg. The only bright side, of course, is that you get to advance to first base. The bad side is, you have these huge bruises and it's very sore for awhile. They did win the game, though, so that was nice. =)

Speaking of soccer, the boyfriend of one of our players is getting a tattoo! I told him I wanted to document its progression so here is the photo for week one... =) He's such a dedicated boyfriend to her, and usually accompanies her to every game - so sweet!

Hangin' out...

Both girls successfully completed their swimming class (and were promoted to the next level). I thought it would be better if the girls spent the rest of the summer "practicing" and becoming used to being in the water, rather than taking more lessons. Thanks to Daddy Dude's employee benefits, we can get into Open Swim for free (passes otherwise were 10 for $45 - kind of pricey, if you ask me).
Here's Miss Mika teaching her little sister how to do the starfish float. Not surprisingly, it's been pretty darn crowded at Open Swim, since the temperatures have been near or above 100 degrees out here.

We finally got together with our good friends for dinner last Friday. These kids have known each other for practically all of their lives (they certainly can't remember a time when they didn't know each other) and get along marvelously well. Holly gave the kids some tokens for the arcade and naturally, the kids had fun winning tickets. The selected prizes, though, were... interesting.

Here's my buddy Collin with his fangs. =) The rest of the kids chose erasers!

Meet Daddy Dude's Biggest Fan

When we had some friends over a few weeks ago, they saw the picture of Daddy Dude on the fridge. I knew that John - as Daddy Dude's biggest fan - would drive all the way to the Daddy Dude's work and take his OWN picture next to it. Charming, eh?

Daddy Dude says that now he has patients asking if it's his picture. We are still waiting for the modeling agencies to come calling... LOL... =)

Reconnecting

I feel very fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom right now. It's really come to my attention, that it must be very difficult to help your child with homework if both parents work. Mika and I spend quite a bit of time going over her homework, Monday through Thursday (especially with the reading - in her school district, reading progress is measured by AR quizzes). I let things progress naturally at school for a few weeks (I didn't want to be one of those overbearing parents who step on the teacher's toes), but was frustrated that Mika didn't seem to be reading very much or improving significantly. After a few chats with her teacher, I realized that the teacher can't monitor individual students closely at all - and that Mika wasn't taking any opportunities to challenge herself (she needed help and strong direction). So, I stepped in and have been pushing Mika to read more. I'm hoping we can establish good study habits for her (something I failed to develop until in college).

Last Friday, the girls and I got together with some old friends. We hadn't seen A. in about a year and wow, had she grown up! Amazing how children can develop so much within one year... all of the girls played together so well that we scheduled another playdate for next week. Since most of the girls' good friends are boys, it never fails to amaze me how girls play differently. There is a lot less screaming, throwing, bouncing, etc. However, the girls did their share of running around and slept really well that night!

Marika was also thrilled that there was a weeping willow tree - loaded with ladybugs and aphids. We brought home a couple of mating pairs (who were kind enough to lay 3 more batches of eggs) so now we're eagerly waiting (and hoping) for the eggs to hatch. The only bad thing is... I put our ladybug habitat structure away somewhere and couldn't find it! Hopefully our makeshift canister will do the job... stay tuned!

Supplies: patterned paper (Making Memories - Animal Crackers), cardstock (Bazzill), diecut borders (Bazzill), crimped corrugated cardboard (DCWV), diecut flowers (Sizzix), foam letters (American Crafts Thickers), fabric ribbon (Cloud 9), ink (American Crafts), button (Buttons Galore), corner rounder (Marvy Uchida)

I had to run a couple of errands this morning, but managed to squeeze in this layout.

A Day at the Fair

We hadn't planned on having an exciting Sunday, but when we heard that early bird admission to the LA County Fair was only $1 (usually it's $17 per adult), we couldn't resist, especially knowing that rides were only $1 later in the day. We called up our good friends and met them at the fair.

It'd been several years since we'd last come - I believe it was 4 years ago, when Mika couldn't do very much and Marika could do nothing at all. There were so many things to do and see... and the kids had a lot of fun hanging out with each other (though the two younger ones were lucky - they got to ride around on the stroller - thanks, B.!).

The fair had an African Safari attraction, which included some animals. Who doesn't love seeing animals???

And then they had some insect displays... pretty cool!!! The pictures on the top show the bee hive they had on display, along with some old nests...

Going along with the African theme were these sculptures. At first glance, they appeared to be regular animals of the African continent. But, when you got closer, you realized that they were composed of seeds and other vegetable matter! It was amazing!

Some old locomotives and other train cars were on display... the kids enjoyed pulling the ropes to make noise BUT they did not like it when other kids did it! Check out their expressions!

And last but not least, the kids were able to go on several rides at the very end. They were patient souls, despite being forced to wait until 4 pm, when the rides/games were only $1 (versus $4.50 or so!). The best part was probably the Ferris Wheel... what a view!

I don't know if we'll be going back again next year, but we came back with some good memories at least.

Now this is more like it!

Fridays are definitely the most leisurely day of the week for us. So, yesterday, we went to the park with our friends. For the most part, they play together really nicely (I suppose any playgroup is guaranteed its share of squabbles). It still makes my heart melt to see them playing "Ring Around the Posey". And it's nice that they accept that I'm an annoying photographer and they have to provide a few obligatory poses from time to time... :)

I'd been waiting a really long time for that tree shot, though!

And since Daddy Dude was working this weekend, I took the girls to the local park today. I thought we'd be there for no more than 1.5-2 hours, but the girls refused to leave because they were having so much fun - never mind that it was hot and they were sweating like crazy. I think we were there for about 3 hours! It WAS nice and leisurely... and for those three hours, I was cutting out Curious George paper doll outfits. Yup, that's right - paper doll stuff. Remember those from when we were little? I was so excited to get a book of them at Barnes & Noble. Imagine my surprise when I saw that I had to CUT each piece out. Didn't they use to come with perforations and you just punched them out? *sigh* So now I feel quite old - my back is killing me and I somehow tweaked my knee while sitting on a blanket. *sigh*

Friday

On Friday, we picked up the painting Marika had made while helping me work in Mika's classroom on Thursday. She actually took it upon herself, to do the same painting assignment as the big kids!

In the evening, we were invited over to dinner at our good friends' house. The home-made hamburgers were delicious!

Afterwards, the kids played while we watched the Angels on TV. These target shirts cracked me up!

Hanging Out...

Today was the one day we got together with Mika's school friends this week. Despite it being spring break, everybody was busy! So what did we do...?

First stop was story time at the local library. Since Marika just turned four, we moved to the "other" storytime. Some of their other friends joined us, before we headed over to the park. What a beautiful day it was! There's nothing like a picnic lunch with friends at the park! I love how happy Marika looks as she's swinging...

Remember when all it took was someone pushing you on the swing to make you happy?

*sigh*

Softball Game #3

So Saturday was Picture Day...

I'm showing you this picture, because this will be the "better" picture. What happened to the other one? Well... I'll admit that we didn't wash Mika's uniform because there wasn't much time between games. We thought it was clean enough - but discovered a green grass stain on her leg the morning of the picture. S. ran out to the store and got her a (better) pair. As we were changing her (RIGHT before the pictures took place), she started bawling! So, in the professional shot, she IS smiling - but her eyes are all swollen and in all honesty... she looks a little scary! I'm going to dread getting those back... but on the bright side - she was all chipper and back to normal for the team picture!

Mika gets better every game. She still cries when she gets tagged out (I guess it's good NOT to want to be tagged out!) but she is "getting" other concepts. And look at her run! Everything else is a blur!

Some of our friends were nice enough to come and see Mika play. I had a better picture, but "somebody" was doing some a little odd, so we won't be showing that one...

It was a busy day! Afterwards, we had a video call with my big brother K. - this was the first time we got to see "the twins" (Aya and Arisa) live! They are extraordinarily cute! Mika and Marika hadn't seen Mirei since last May, too, so that was fun. I'm looking forward to calling them more often. We already bug Grandma with video calls every other day or so...

And last but not least, we spent an enjoyable evening with H., B., C., and S. (Boy, this is a real pain to use intials, but they say it's good to do so for security). Why are each of the kids at a pole? We have no idea. They were eating their desserts outside (Push Pops! Hadn't seen those in years!) and gave themselves "stations", I guess.

So we saw a lot of our friends this weekend - but the girls are still recovering, since we were out late Friday night ("Happy Friday" with our neighborhood friends) and Saturday night with the Graefes. Whew! For being on Spring Break, we sure are busy!

How high... can you go?

We had a relatively uneventful return trip back down the mountain (though Marika seemed to get motion sick!) and delightfully discovered we could wear SHORTS back at home. Yah! After finishing a few necessary errands, we went to H.'s house to retrieve Daisy (our guinea pig). Of course, though, we HAD to check out the new trampoline that the boys got for their birthdays! What a cool new toy!
Here's H., our favorite future hopeful Olympic trampoline gymnast, bouncing the big kids up, up, and UP! Go, H., GO! Look at the air beneath those kids!

Man, the kids just loved that! They could have bounced for hours! Some go up, some go down...

And here's my buddy, C., squishing his face against the mesh. He didn't believe that he looked really funny in a freaky kind of way, so... what do you think now, hmmm? ;)

I'm sure all the kids slept soooo soundly tonight. =)

Nothing like spending quality time with good friends!

Today our good friends H. and B. drove up with C. and S. to spend some time with us. They are among our most favorite people on earth, so we had a lot of fun hanging out - even though it rained the entire day. It's amazing how rain doesn't really bother little kids, especially when there is a big hill of snow to be played with.

We did bring some awesome sleds with us, but... these hills were a little too small and the sleds a wee bit too fast (you don't have much time to climb on!). Maybe tomorrow we can find some bigger and better hills...

The girls power napped while H. and B. shopped for some new snow clothes for C. and S.

Afterwards we strolled down to Big Bear Lake for some snowball fights and pictures by the lake. By 5 pm, the kids were all tuckered out. Not too shabby for a day filled with fun and friends!