You mean Norman Bates doll

I stumbled upon this "Mary Cassatt" doll while searching for something on Amazon and it made me laugh long time.  

Thanksgiving 2014

Sister mauling her auntie's very patient dog:

Who made a haircut possible:

Kid table:

Fun Gramps on a Razor scooter in the canyon:

Picking helicopter leaves to throw off the bridge:

Teaching them how to skip a rock:

Brothers on the ropes course--it made me nervous, but I did it too

Pumpkin everything

Barf!  I can actually make myself feel queasy if I think of this yogurt having the stringy texture of pumpkin guts.

Banana chocolate chip mini muffins

We often have us some overripe bananas, and at one point I bought a mini muffin pan and started making these banana chocolate chip muffins.  They are delicious and not as messy to eat or store as banana bread.  They've become a once-every-month-or-two tradition.

-1 1/2 cups flour (I often do 1/2 cup wheat flour)
-3/4 cup sugar
-1 tsp. baking powder
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/2 tsp. cinnamon

-1 egg
-1/3 cup melted butter
-3 very ripe, mashed bananas

-1/2 cup chocolate chips (I like semi-sweet)
-Cinnamon sugar

*Preheat oven to 350 and spray a mini muffin tin with cooking spray.  Mix the dry ingredients together and set aside.  Combine the egg, butter, and bananas in a separate large bowl, then mix in the dry ingredients (do not over mix).  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill cups of the muffin tin about halfway with batter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top if desired. Cook for 10-15 minutes (or 25-30 minutes if using a regular muffin tin).  Makes about 36 mini muffins.

Everyone's favorite game

I can't wait to find out if it's Glen Campbell with his "Alzheimer's horror" or Liza with her broken back!   Classy. 

Sister is 2

Sister turned 2 this August.  We celebrated by letting her throw rocks in the water, something she could probably do for hours:

Milestones: crawled at 10 months, walked at 16, first tooth at 9.5 months, first word was "hi"

Food: favorites are yogurt, tomato basil hummus, dried blueberries, ice cream, fruit leather, chips, crackers, apples, strawberries, cereal.  She has always immediately refused bread and noodles and therefore also doesn't like donuts, cake, muffins or cookies.  

Shows - Dumbo is #1 right now, also likes "Kee-a-rah-rah" (Cinderella).  Really likes Backyardigans, Little Einsteins, Eebee, and Leapfrog learning videos too

Books: "A Potty for Me," "Potty and Quiet Loud" by Leslie Patricelli; Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever, Backyardigans, I Spy board books 

Funny words: "I sit!" when she's mad; "I drop it!" (she'll drop or throw something then cry about wanting it back); "I wanna hold you!" "I love it" "How 'bout" and "wait!" (things I've realized I say); "Be-too" for blanket; "Truss hand" for hold hands.  Often adds an "h" sound to words that start with "O" like "hoink, hoink, hoffice, horange"

Activities: throwing rocks in water, playing in the car, drawing, walking up and down on sprinkler boxes or other raised surfaces; dusting, cleaning the toilet (I've had to put all the toilet brushes up); babbling in an animated way with lots of hand gestures

The scrawlings of a mad woman:    

She also really likes cats, so the Fur Real friend from Grandma and Grandpa was a hit:

The cat hasn't come close to taking Pink Bear's place, however.  That's the thing Sister is most attached to, with tub toy Leo in 2nd place. She also likes her 2 pink play phones and frequently steals a small notebook with a floral pattern out of my nightstand.  Here are some other things she has carried around with her from time to time: 

Sometimes I've caved and given her my iPhone when she won't settle down for bed.  I'll lock her in to looking at photos and videos with the Guided Access feature, and when I retrieve my phone, I often find hilarious photos she's managed to take like these:

She gets really nervous around men she doesn't know, especially ones that acknowledge her or crouch down to her level.  She cried and cried when I had to talk to some dudes at length at Home Depot and the Oreck vacuum store recently. 

She's becoming more particular about what she wears--my boys never cared.  She wore this pink dress to church one day, and I ended up putting it over her pajamas and then over her outfit the next day to avoid a huge conflict.  She's been partial to the white shoes she's holding, too. 

She likes being a butterfly: 

Who needs a dollhouse when you have a Bat Cave?:

I poop glitter

Me too!  And it smells like roses.

Veritable smorgasbord

Despite my love for amusement parks and carnivals, I don't recall ever attending a state fair growing up.  So when I heard from my radio boyfriends in 2009 that California's was happening and that THEY HAD SOME RIDES FROM MICHAEL JACKSON'S NEVERLAND RANCH, I decided we had to go.

We took some pictures with Michael.  2nd Brother was 3 months old at the time:

1st Brother had fun on the MJ rides and many others:

They had many other things for kids to do - lots of livestock (including adorable babies), a big vegetable garden to see how things grow, a bug exhibit, and a farm-themed play area:

To top off our night, we ate a fried Twinkie.  It was disappointing - the filling evaporates in the hot grease, and the fried outside did nothing for it--but when in Rome, right?   

We made our return to the State Fair this summer.  The brothers made good use of their unlimited ride wristbands, and I let them play one carnival game each.  There was a cool exhibit on the history of candy with a gift shop, and we ate chocolate-covered bacon (delicious!).  We stayed past dark when it gets real magic-y, and I am vowing to go back every year.     

2nd Brother all growed up on the pedal tractor: 

Relaxing with some foot vibration:

Posing in one of the county exhibits:

God needed a Protege

In mid-July, I was driving our 14-year-old Mazda Protege on the freeway with all three kids in the back and a trunk full of groceries when the "check engine" light came on and I started to lose speed. We made it to our usual exit for home, and I noticed white smoke coming out from under the hood when we stopped at the light. The car wouldn't start again when the light turned green, but luckily I was able to roll to a side street, pull the emergency brake and park.  I realized I didn't have my cell phone - Mom brain! - so we called AAA from the gas station across the street.  A tow truck arrived quickly and gave us all a ride home. (Thank goodness - I didn't know any of my friends' phone numbers who might have picked us up).

At a minimum, the head gasket needed to be fixed with more engine damage likely, and the repair would cost more than the car was worth.  We found a scrap yard who gave us $300 for it plus some nights at a Holiday Inn.  Going to get our stuff out and see it hauled off gave me the same feeling I had when I said good-bye to my dog when she was put to sleep--awful!  This was my first car that I bought as a senior in college.  It was our only car in San Francisco for 11 years and brought my two baby boys home from the hospital.  I thought we'd have it for several more years, but that was not in the cards.      

After TONS of research by my husband and many hours spent hunting down the best deal, we decided on an all-electric car as a replacement, the Fiat 500e.  It works with our lifestyle for now as it will mostly be used to drive to and from the train station and run occasional local errands.  We are leasing it for 3 years at a cost of $200/month after putting $1000 down.  But California gives you a $2500 check and an HOV lane sticker, we won't pay for gas or oil changes, and Fiat gives you 12 free car rentals per year for times when you need to take longer trips. (The car can go about 80 miles before it needs to be charged again, which can take a long time via a regular outlet or you can pay to install a faster charging station).  It's a 2-door, seats 4 and is really zippy and fun to drive.  Plus we can feel really cool having a car with new-fangled technology.

The Narrows, etc.

We took a trip to Utah in June this year, over Father's Day weekend.  I was thrilled it worked out for me and two of my sisters to hike the Narrows in Zion National Park with my dad while we were there.  We got a couple rooms at the Super 8 in Hurricane and stayed the night before so we could get a morning start.  The hike was spectacular!  The water (which you're in most of the time) was about knee deep and cold, but with the air temp in the 90s and the shade of the cliffs, it was perfect. I shouldn't have chosen yoga pants to hike in though, as they almost immediately got heavy and annoying. There are times when a girl should just get over the varicose and spider veins on her legs and wear short shorts, you know?

Dad and me (with rolled-up pants):

The rest of the group.  The sister in the middle found out she was pregnant with her first baby shortly after we returned.  Good thing she wasn't vomiting and extremely fatigued yet: 

Stopped for a snack in the shade:

We took so many pictures that I started encouraging ones with goofy faces to add variety:

We stopped at a cemetery in Rockville near Zion where my remarkable ancestor Jane Johnston Black is buried.  We also went to the Territorial Statehouse in Fillmore, Utah and saw her portrait:

  

Our drive from California to Utah with the kids was the best we've ever had.  Sister was entertained enough by electronics and her brothers that I didn't have to sit in the back with her.  I was feeling kind of smug and thought, "Look!  We can take vacations now!"  But the drive back proved me wrong.  Sister threw up all over herself about 2 hours in, I think from being motion sick.  We stopped at a bathroom in the Salt Flats and cleaned up the best we could. 

After lunch, 2nd Brother wouldn't stop making goofy noises and bugging Sister when we were trying to do a quiet hour.  We stopped the car and made him sit alone in the back, but he continued to be obnoxious and unbuckled his seat belt, so we stopped yet again, and he had a time out in the dirt while the rest of us sat in the car and Sister woke up from her too-short nap.  Blerg!  Dealing with him was one of the most frustrating parenting experiences I've ever had.      

To end on a happier note, here are the kids with their two great-grandmas and with Grandma and Grandpa:

Modern friendship

This is what 8-9 year old boys do as friends in 2014:

At least they are playing video games while physically in the same room with each other. A couple of months ago, 1st Brother played Minecraft with a friend online..and the friend lives ACROSS THE STREET ("We can each have our own big screen" was the explanation). That and it would have been hard to walk 40 steps to the other person's house, I guess.

Sometimes I decorate

My mom and grandma came to visit for Mother's Day, which motivated me to do something with our family room mantel that had been empty for two years.  I didn't just want to throw crap up there to have it done, I wanted it to be stuff I liked a lot and/or that meant something to me.  I was thrilled to find the antique Staffordshire dog figurine on eBay, just like the ones in old houses I like to walk through.  The orange pots match the chairs and mobile at my kitchen table (Ikea), I just liked those balls made of metal straps (Target), and I'm really lucky to have a friend who took pictures of our kids that are display-worthy.  And finally, I purchased a real toad skeleton to represent my love of the quirky and spooky.  Here's a closer view of my $50 purchase:

I got the skeleton from The Bone Room in Berkeley (insert joke here), which I happened upon after visiting a children's consignment place a couple of stores down.  

I had to walk through quickly while carrying my squirming toddler and sternly telling my 4-year-old not to touch anything, but I went back with 1st Brother and was able to spend more time fully taking in how awesome it is.  These are actual human skeletons that cost several thousand dollars:

 The fibulas by themselves were a little more affordable:

The teeth, claws and vertebrae of various animals were available for purchase too: 

I didn't end up with the bat skeleton I originally came back for. Ultimately my favorites were the pigeon and the toad; I haven't regretted my decision.