August in a nutshell

My computer is toast. Total bummer, but I have been more productive at home. I do have a phone that gets me online enough, so I can't complain. Today I'm using Jonathan's work computer to do a little update, but time is limited so I have to hustle here. Let's see if this post will even happen.
In a nutshell: Surviving summer.

Nommy is retired! She will now be featured in park photos on a regular basis!!


Never had a baby so into her Papa. When she see's Papa coming she RUNS to him saying, "Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa!!!" Cutest thing ever!!


Princess at the Street fair. The skirt was a little big. She coin slotted the crowd, until a nice lady helped her out.


I have to hand the camera to Jonathan to ensure that there are photos of me for posterity. In fact I informed him that his new year's resolution for 2010 was to take more photos of his wife and children. In the future I will do the settings for him. When I hand him the camera, he doesn't check he just pushes the button. It worked out this time though. I like the Motion Blur. It works.


We're dancing in the middle of main street to a latin band. Fun night.


Happened to get this sweet shot of Jonathan and Maddie so.....


...where there is a cute shot of one kid, I gotta try to get one of the other.


Begonia. Just had to prove that she exists. (My Spanish-English friend. From Spain and England. So my Spainglish friend.) She is very sweet. Our kids do play dates often.


We didn't do a lot of splash park days this summer because of Annaliese's hurt foot, but we tried to do some. Maddie is just warming up here, taking it all in.


Annaliese was actually teaching this little girl how to read! She is amazing!!! Especially not knowing how to read herself. But the little girl repeated every word that came out of Annaliese's mouth. Scammer.


Maddie's favorite little spot is in the fridge of her tiny kitchen.


We visited San Juan Bastista Mission avoiding traffic on the way home from Monterey. More of those later.


Maddie loading up. That's not meant to have a double meaning there.

a lot of nothingness and behindness

For today:
Three things I know for certain.
1. I'm a little too enthusiastic about garage sales, but you knew that already.
2. My computer is dying a slow death. (Just crash already and get it over with! Enough of this sputtering and wheezing and freezing and unexpectedly quitting. I get it!)
3. Since my computer has taken some time off, my parenting skills and involvement have grown exponentially. My computer is trying to tell me something and I hate it when my computer is right.

Tradition

Every year since Jonathan was in high school, he has gone to Hana Japan with his family on his Birthday. So in keeping up this tradition, here we are. This is the highlight of course, the flaming onion valcano. Always a crowd pleaser.



Where there is smoke...there WAS fire. I don't know about you, but I love me those Hana Japan shrimp. It's all about the slathered butter baby.
Check out Maddie behind the smoke. My one year old is using chopsticks. Yes, very advanced for her age. Actually she was using them as a spear. Whatever method is the most efficient to get those shrimp in your mouth.


Annaliese protecting her right eye from a tiny rainstorm that's blowin' in from the north.


Where there is a cute shot of one kid, the photo of the other kid isn't far behind. Here is Maddie on the porch blowing bubbles with Thomas.


WHITE FAMILY REUINION! Table for 6 please! Here it is the whole family!! Mr. Only child. I love giving Jonathan a hard time about that. When we were dating I was asking him about his family and the holidays.
He said to me, "I really love Christmas."
I said, "Of course you do, you're an only child. On Christmas morning, you come down the stairs, look at all the gifts and say, 'Which one's are for me? Oh wait, They're ALL for me!!'"
So anyway...back to this picture.. We got together for 4th of July at Nommy and Papa's in Castro Valley. Gotta say, I love the weather there. It's nice and cool ALL THE TIME! I love when the fog rolls in at night. It's my kind of weather. So after a little 4th of July BBQ we headed over to meet the rest of the fam for some fireworks.


I didn't get one shot of all the cousins. They were all together plus a few extra. But hey, it's a shot of me and Elyse! Love my Jack Skellington themed clothing. Very Patriotic.


While we waited for it to get dark, we munched on treats and got our Twilight fix.
Still need to go see Eclipse again. Putting it on the calendar.
Yay me..1st week in July...semi caught up.

Style

We have ventured into the stage where she wants to pick out her own clothes and dress herself. She did just that, she picked it all out and put it all on herself.


Annaliese has her own little style. She knows what she wants to wear, and it doesn't matter if it goes or not, she will tie it all in with accessories.


Totally wouldn't have worked without the glasses and Minnie ears. These were her poses by the way. The kid only poses when she thinks she looks adorable.

Father's Day in photos

This is Jonathan and Annaliese on Sunday morning. It was Father's Day and Jonathan was playing the cello that morning in Castro Valley at his parent's church. I stayed home with Madleyn so she could get her morning nap. When they got home I went to the first part of our church solo. And oh my goodness, church is a completely different experience without a 1 and 3 year old. I love them, but it's nice to have a day off from wrangling. They came later for Sunday School. Again, Annaliese cried for scriptures. I just happend to see Jonathan booking it down the hall towards the library for the mini. Luckily it was there, and she was a happy girl.


Annaliese working on her Father's Day card.


So proud of her artwork.


Her pictures kill me. They have so much personality. Although she's evolved again where she did about 8 pictures in a row and every single one was exactly the same picture. I'm kind of bummed. I liked the Tim Burton crazy drawings so much. But these twin drawings are still fun.


Daddy and his girls.


Started to stop Papa from doing this because I didn't think Madelyn liked this kind of thing, but I was wrong. Just mama that doesn't like it.

Brain misfunction

Yesterday we went to a good-bye party for Joshua at the Val Vista Park. Since our buddies are down to their last 5 days or so, unfortunately. But the kids had a great time playing together, that is, until the incident. Yes, we had an incident, and when I say we, I mean Annaliese. I didn't see exactly what happened before said incident. But what I did see was a gleeful Annaliese coming off the slide and intently pushing the little girl in front of her. The little girl ran to her mom crying, so I had to march Annaliese over to the mom and tell her what I saw and then force the ever so unfelt apology out of Annaliese's mouth. Since she wasn't acting very remorseful, I wasn't going to let her stay at the park. So I had her loaded in the car and I was so frustrated I just asked, "What made you decide to push that little girl?" She pondered for a second and then replied, "my brain...got bad." Between that incident and this morning something must have clicked because in her morning prayer she said, "Help that my brain will get nice and better."


This was the coolest. Annaliese came across this little squirrel and decided she wanted to see it up close. I thought he was going to immediately dart up a tree and be gone, but I swear this little guy was playing with her. At first it ran around the playground equipment. It even stopped and waited for what looked like, her to notice him again. Once she spotted him, he ran around again, then onto the sidewalk. Then over by the trees where he jumped on the tree and ran 4 or 5 circles on the trunk while she was running circles around the trunk. I have about 8 pictures of what I swear was them playing. I do remember when I visited Vancouver, there were black squirrels that would come right up to you, so maybe they can get used to people. Who knows? He probably was entertaining for her goldfish.


I've really got to keep a close eye on this one. She knows where she wants to go and she's fast. I'm going to lose my mind chasing these two. Speaking of losing my mind, I think I did last night. (Jonathan didn't get home until late, so it was just me wrangling the kids and it was a little chaotic.) I put her to bed last night and she woke up in the middle of the night, so I went in to check it out. When I reached to pick her up, I noticed her pajama bottoms were wet, then I noticed her shirt was wet. I thought, "oh her diaper must have slipped to the side." I felt around for it and felt no diaper. REALLY?? Then it hit me. I totally forgot to put a diaper on the baby last night! How do you forget to put a diaper on your baby?? But I did. And she peed everywhere. Maybe it's time to pray for my brain to get better.


Last playdate with Joshua until Disneyland in September!! We will miss them! But now the countdown for Disney is on!

Silly Kids and Evolution of Art

In charge:
This is Annaliese with her best buddy in the world Joshua. He was at our house playing over the weekend while his parents (our good friends Lief and Laura) got some packing done. Unfortunately these guys are moving to Oregon in one week. So bummed! But they will be back to come with us to Disneyland in September.
When Laura dropped him off and said good bye, Annaliese turned to him and said, "Be good Joshua." Like he would be the naughty one. He's so so quiet and just goes right along with everything she wants to do. She was thinking, "Since your mom didn't say it, I'm going to say it." Maybe it's because that's the last think I say to her when I drop her off, "PLEEEEEESE be good Annaliese!"

My Reader and funny 4 year olds:
Yesterday at church I saw Annaliese leave the primary room and head down the hall totally crying. I thought, Oh no she doesn't want to go to her class. So I asked her what was wrong. Through her pitiful sobs she said, "I forgot my scriptures!" This was entertaining on many levels. For one, she doesn't have scriptures and has never brought any scriptures to class ever! And secondly, she's three! The child can't read. So, I said, "Give me one second!" I headed to the church library and found the teenie tiniest little scripture book. There was only one like that. So I checked it out. The Librarian said, "Will you even be able to see that?" I said, "It doesn't matter, it's for my 3 year old and she can't read yet. It's perfect." I'm going to have to try and find her one like that. It sounds like a job of Becca and Josh.

Later on that day, I was in my Sunday School class with the 4 year olds. We were talking about being Peacemakers. I said to them, "Did you know that you can create peace in your own homes?" 4 year old Ryan who perpetually has me in stitches said, "Yeah! If you live alone!" True that Ryan! True that! He has a way of bringing reality into the sugar coated discussion. He is wise beyond his years.


Art Evolution:
I have loved watching the evolution of Annaliese's art. This is her first drawing that I discovered of hers. We were at Jonathan's work and she was doodling away. I just happened to look down at the notebook she had been scribbling in to notice it actually resembled something. I think it looks like Wall-e. But who knows how long she had been doing little people for and I just never paid any attention. So I started paying really close attion.


By the next month, she had really gotten into the faces. I had a dry erase board and she'd draw the cutest faces, but then she'd scribble over it or erase it. So if she ever drew something adorable, I would be running through the house like a crazy person screaming, "Don't erase it! Don't erase it! Don't erase it!" While I searched for my camera. This one is probably my all time favorite. She told me it was Papa, and I about fell over laughing because it looks exactly like Papa, beard and all.


The Frigidaire Collection:
I call this her Tim Burton period. (Lasted through most of her 3's) Especially the one on the right. I think I'll frame it. By far my favorite stage, but today I realized that stage has come to a close.


Now that we're in her late 3's she's starting to pay attention to the shape of the eyes, add rosey cheeks and she does hair spewing out from the top of the head. I'll miss the circle mismatched eyes and the zig zagged hair along the top of the head. Also in the last 2 months she's evolved from just drawing people to now drawing animals and insects. She now draws mice, snakes, sharks, fish, dragonflies, butterflies and snails. I'm watching her closely now because she may have Grandpa White's Artistic talent. Time to send her to his Oil Painting classes. And yes, I am that crazy mom who lets her 3 year old use sharpies. Dangerous I know, and I know better.