Little Daily Stuff for February

Rose is officially registered for Kindergarten for this next Fall!  She was a trooper and waited with me in the ridiculous line.  It has been FREEZING here (literally - there was snow on the hills right by our house and we had hail and freezing rain the night before Kindergarten registration so it was super cold (for us)).

Hence the ski coat.  But it was sunny that morning (lasted all of 4 hours I think).  Hence the sun hat that we got for our upcoming trip to HAWAII!!  But also the hat is on backwards.  And she still has her badge from ski school this year.  And she refused to look at me or smile.  I cannot believe she is going to be in Kindergarten next year!

Meanwhile, back at home, Rose still loves dressing up and being fabulous as much as ever.  She came in the other day like this, feeling super beautiful and proud of herself.  Obviously I agreed with her and asked if I could take her picture.  This time she obliged and even posed for me.

Paul got moved to a new office at his firm.  It has these amazing floor to ceiling windows on two of the walls (it's a corner office) and gorgeous views.  I'm weirdly jealous.  The girls and I made a trip into the city to see it and have lunch with him.  The girls had Boudin (Clara is obsessed with their clam chowder bread bowls) and Paul and I had the San Fran Psycho sandwich from a sandwich place that he's been raving about (with good reason - it was delicious).  

Then we endured an agonizing 2 1/2 hour drive home because of the awful traffic just getting out of the city onto the freeway.  Seriously, once we made it to the on-ramp, it was smooth sailing.  It was just getting through the gridlock of rude, pushy, inconsiderate drivers on the city streets that was the hard part.

Post-church hanging out.  Which Clara takes literally by sprawling across multiple chairs.  Also, take note of the giant carrot Rose is eating.  The girls' favorite treat ever is a full carrot with the leafy green stuff on top.  Forgot that mom is a food blogger who makes things like this giant cookie.  Nope, they want the carrot.  They slay me.

So, Secret Cupid isn't going nearly as well this year as last.  It's my friend Rachel's idea (from 3 in 30 podcast but I knew her before she was famous because we started the adoption process at the same time and have kept in touch ever since). 

Last year it was so great and the girls loved it.  They still love it but now they also kind of hate it.  Rose drew Clara's name and hasn't quite figured out how to really kept it secret.  She is trying and being sneaky, but then blows her cover by admitting to Clara that she picked such-and-such thing just for her.

Which apparently is soul-crushing for Clara to know who her secret cupid is by the way she has wailed and moaned over that fact, and the mean words that have been spoken about wishing she had a different secret cupid.  To the point that I heard Rose say the other day "I'm a bad secret cupid.  I quit."  And then we had a big sit down talk.  It was very sad, but we're working through it and Rose didn't really want to quit and the next day was so happy to pick up Clara's laundry and put it in the dirty clothes bin for her while Clara was in the shower.  Clara didn't notice but Rose felt happy again to be serving her sister. 

Also, those jewels on the bed in the secret cupid store have easily been the biggest hit this year.  Both girls went "shopping" first and were smart enough not to pick them to give to their person, in the hopes that their secret cupid would choose them instead.  I, obviously, opened the package and divided up those jewels and gave them both jewels on the same day and they were thrilled. 

We had some friends over for dinner a couple of weeks ago and Rose snapped this picture unbeknownst to me while we were doing last minute preparations before they got there (i.e., the quick mad scramble to make it look like we actually keep our house clean by sweeping and emptying the sink of dirty dishes).  

I got lash extensions the other week just to try them.  I've wanted them for years, ever since my friend Ginny started getting them.  I like them, but I don't see myself getting them again.  I just don't feel like I can justify the cost, both in terms of money and in terms of the maintenance required for them.  Anyway, the one thing I like most about them is how they pretty much make it so I can be ready for the day just by filling in my eyebrows.  I mean, it's not a full face or anything, but it's definitely better than nothing and let's me be nominally presentable in about 60 seconds.

The girls and I took a little bit different route the other week when we went for a walk and ended up meeting some new neighbors who just moved in.  Their kids had set up an orange juice stand with fresh squeezed orange juice from their backyard.  Turns out they have kids the same age as Clara and Rose so we need to get back over to their house and see about getting to know them better since they are just around the corner from us.

And that's pretty much the latest!

Visit with the Millers

We went to visit Jason and Ginny and their family in Auburn over Martin Luther King Day weekend and had so much fun.  We love these guys so much.  

Honestly, our favorite part is always just kind of hanging out, going on walks and to the playground with the kids, and playing games at their home.  I lost game after game of Sequence no matter who I was paired up with, which was hilarious and frustrating.  We brought Telestrations and the kids loved playing that together.  It's like the game "Telephone" but with drawing instead of whispering in ears.

Rose had fun dressing up with Hadley and Tori, and Clara was happy to play with Ollie & Max.  Ginny cooked a delicious lasagna for Sunday dinner and a yummy chocolate chip bundt cake that may have to get featured on my other blog one of these days.  

Jason and Paul worked on a house project (as usual) and spent some time planning out and measuring a new back deck that they are hoping to have done this summer.

We also got to do a double date with Jason and Ginny one night when they had a babysitter (their niece) come over.  They took us to a really incredible Lebanese restaurant and we had the BEST food.  We were trying to go to Topgolf, but it was a 2-hour wait, so we ended up at Barnes & Noble instead.    

Paul and Ginny ganged up on me and bullied me into "signing my cookbook".  It's a collection of recipes that I made years ago and printed on the site where I used to keep my recipes that shut down, ultimately leading to the creation of my food blog.  We were all laughing so hard when we took this picture before church on Sunday.

We always try for a group picture but this year we did kids and grown-ups.  We also took a normal picture and an "ugly face" picture.  Ginny says she is the queen of ugly faces but I think I give her pretty stiff competition.

The Millers took us to Coloma where we mined for gold and actually found a few flakes each, which was exciting and fun.  It's a touristy thing to do, but really interesting to see what it's like.  Although Paul was disappointed to learn that they seed the dirt in the troughs with gold flakes so that people have a better shot at finding a little gold to put into little vials to take home.

I was channeling my inner John Wayne thinking "Thar's gold in them thar hills!"  (I don't actually know if he said that or if I'm making that up.  I can't actually remember where that quote is from.)  

We also looked at the blacksmith shop where the blacksmith was making things out of metal by heating them and then pounding the red-hot metal on his anvil.  The older kids loved it but the littler ones got kind of bored with that.  

There was an old schoolhouse to check out, a museum, and an old log cabin that we got to go in with a couple in period dress who talked about the Mormon pioneers who were in that area when gold was found and showed us some of the tools that were commonly used during that time of the gold rush.  The kids especially loved when they got to be pushed around in the old wheelbarrow.

It's always fun to catch up with some of our best friends who were pretty much the first friends we made when we moved to California after law school.  It's amazing to see how our families have grown!