Random catch-up

This is going to be a quick, random catch-up post full of bad iPhone pictures.  I have got to start using the nice camera more again because I have become too reliant on the ease of my camera phone and miss having the better pictures I get from the Canon.

 

So anyhoosier, over Memorial Day weekend we went to stay with the Millers.  Ginny is due to have their fourth baby any day now and then they are leaving California for the summer to take the bees to North Dakota, so we wanted to get one more chance to see them.  Our girls were so entertained by Max and Ollie the whole time.  They have a great play room and the boys taught Clara about building forts (Ollie wrote her a "no boys allowed" sign to go on her fort since their forts had "no gurls allowed" signs on them) and after Sunday dinner at Jason's parents' house the boys took turns taking Clara and Rose on drives around the front loop in front of the mandarin orchard in one of those powerwheel jeeps.  Paul has some video or a picture of Rose doing this which I might have to pull from his phone if I remember to and add it here but basically she had a huge smile on her face the entire time and waved like she was in a parade every time they went past.

 

 

We went out for sushi and Rose at all the rice.  Like, when a side of rice was brought out that we had ordered for the kids, Jason and Ginny said that it was so much rice that there was no way that the kids would be able to eat it all.  And then Rose devoured the whole thing by fistfuls until she had consumed it all.  It made a mess but she was happy about it. 

 

We also played games and took turns showing the ridiculous random internet stuff that we have seen lately (mostly Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel stuff).  Also, on Memorial Day, Jason took Paul to work with him at like 5:00 a.m. to move bees.  They got back just in time for the wonderful crepes that Ginny made.  A lot of our favorite recipes, including the crepe recipe I use, come from Ginny who is an excellent cook.

We took the kids to a very little Memorial Day ceremony at an old cemetery in Auburn.  I thought the 21 gun salute would be more upsetting for the girls but they did just fine.

Aside from that little weekend trip, life around here has been laid back recently and we have fallen into a nice routine of gym, park, errands, preschool and play dates that is going to be shaken up here in the next couple of weeks as we start doing more summer stuff like beach days and vacations and stuff.  One thing that has already started up again is the Dublin farmer's market, which we enjoy going to even though it is awfully small.  I just can't resist the fresh peaches and apricots!  I made a couple batches of apricot jam already and it turned out awesome.  Clara enjoyed helping me husk some of the corn that we picked up the other week.  I remember this being one of my favorite jobs as a kid too.

I took a machine quilting class at a quilt shop I discovered in Livermore.  It was an all-day thing on a Saturday so Paul and his dad (who was visiting for work stuff) took the girls on a drive over to the coast while I spent the day learning how to machine quilt on my home machine.  It was a blast and I learned so much.  Now I need more practice and I want to do an actual quilt again soon so I can put my new skills to use!

I tried a funky braid on my hair that day and had to document it.  It was a dutch braid that I "pancaked" which is where you tug the braid apart a bit to make it a little flatter and looser.  I'm afraid I have too many fly-aways to really pull off this look. 

Rose is wearing nightgowns now.  The 2T pajamas were just getting far too tight on her and the tops wouldn't stay down over her belly.  So I pulled out the size 3T jammies, which work much better.  That batch of sleepwear also included three nightgowns that Clara had worn so we have started putting Rose in those too and she seems to love them, probably because they are so much more comfortable for her since she doesn't have pants cinched around her belly.  Also, we are dying over her beautiful little curls and amazing bedhead.

 

And finally, we have started a new tradition of watching classic movies on Sunday afternoons with Clara.  Paul and I had this conversation while on a drive with the girls about how much we loved "World of Disney" on Sunday evenings as children and how we missed it and that is where we came up with this idea.  So we have been watching movies like "The Swiss Family Robinsons", "Sound of Music", and "Mary Poppins".  Clara really enjoys them even though they aren't the cartoons that I think she would prefer.  I love how thoroughly good and decent these movies are - they have such enduring values like family and hard work and are just plain fun to watch.  Some of the movies we have in our collection but others I am just picking up from the local library. 

 

And that's pretty much all that has been going on around here!