San Francisco Trip with Friends

Ahhhh....what a fantastic two spent in San Francisco!  Jess and Mike, Chris and Wendy and their little Kendall.  We flew in the Pilatus and stayed in Union Square.  We rode more public transportation then in a year spent here in southern CA.  We flew, we shuttled, we taxied, we cable car'd, we bussed, we BARTed, we did it all!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was our visit to Alcatraz!

A MUCH need two days spent with Ben, who makes it all happen:)

When discouraged....READ THIS POST!

This is one of those mommy rants that doesn't make a lot of sense in the here and now but in 20 years will hopefully make me smile and remember what life was like when they were little and Ben and I were lost in the throws of parenthood.....

This month a Natalie's alter ego has not left her side.  She visits from time to time and each time she does I am overwhelmed with motherhood failure!  Ugggh it is the WORST feeling to feel like you are failing the single most important thing in life - raising a person....I know the alter ego will leave soon, with out a good bye or any fanfare but in the midst of it, I feel like I am in battle with a newly turned 6 year old!  Each night when I go to bed I formulate my strategy for the next day...here are some affirmations I need to recite when I feel like I am failing in every way!

1.  I make my kids breakfast everyday!  I actually cook most mornings...cereal is a rarity and a treat!  What prison inmate can say their mom cooked breakfast 9 out of 10 mornings....
2.  I NEVER let my kids wear clothes that are missing buttons or underware or socks with holes.  What CEO, or at least a Nordstorm personnel shopper would go to work with such sloppiness?
3.  I pack an exciting lunch full of healthy delicious food everyday unless the kids are sooo excited about the lunch offering that we celebrate and they get to "buy" lunch.  
4.  I pick them up everyday with as smile, either from their classroom, or right in the loop after school.
5.  Dinner is on the table at 5:30 consistently.  I cook different things and family favorites and include the girls in my cooking regularly.  They don't eat much but are not really what I would call "picky".
6.  We eat as a family!
7.  Almost EVERY night there is bathtime and book time!  Sometimes reading over 100 pages a night!  These girls are book fanatics! I dream of them becoming a librarian.
8.  They get to celebrate their birthday's with amazing parties and homemade cakes.
9.  They get to camp, fly, boat, hike, swim, craft, bike, often.
10.  They get to choose any activity, soccer, softball, dance, gymnastics, swim team, etc. they would like to attempt.
11.  I make  homemade Halloween costumes, help with school projects, sit down for homework, chaperone field trips, host playdates, plan summer fun, lead girl scout troops, and join mommy and me groups.
12.  I censor what TV is watched, movies shown, and websites visited.

I hope this helps....and why oh why did I think the baby stage was so much work?  I'd take a baby any day!  Ooops was that a slip???

Blue Dolphins....an attempt at softball.

Here are the Bad News Bears.....season has taught us that Natalie is more a softball girl then a soccer girl.  She is quite the hitter a slow runner and she loves to draw in the dirt...The coach's daughter makes Natalie look like an angel and being team mom is more work then I thought it would be!  

We have 4 games left and I can't wait to be FREE Friday evenings and Saturday mornings again....of course then we'll have swimming...we are in the midst of team sports!

Busy Bee Natalie

Softball was a hit...literally.  From the very start of her first practice hitting the ball has been Natalie's favorite part of softball and it continues to be her strongest asset. Her first season was played on the Dolphins and with 5 other girls they often brought more laughs then wins but without keeping score and without any outs these girls were all winners!  Lexi's dad, Issac was the coach and I served as Team Mom!  We decided as a family this is our sport!  Natalie enjoys it and so do mom and dad... 

 Another sport we tried this year was competitive swimming.  TMEC starts at 5 years old and you must try out at the Chaparral High School pool.  See the swim lane just above Natalie's head, she swam there and back without stopping.  That was the requirement for 5 year olds!   Both Natalie and her friend Jillian made the team but after a few months of sunny warm days of practice, once the weather got chilly and the time changed both girls decided they weren't as hard core as they thought....