A tale of two fishes...or four

Saturday afternoon I took the 3 kids to a carnival at a local church here in town...each girl won a goldfish (actually I couldn't handle Kate's whining that she didn't have one, so I talked the lady into letting me buy one from her, and right as she was finally giving in, I threw the dang ping pong into the bowl--mission accomplished)...we stopped at the pet store to get cheap goldfish food on our way home. The new fish bowl was my best glass salad bowl from my wedding. By Sunday morning, Kate's fish was dead and flushed down the toilet with little incident or fanfare. By Sunday afternoon Lauren's fish was almost dead, and got flushed as well (why prolong the inevitable?). This second flushing included some serious weeping and wailing and body flinging. Now we are the proud new owners of 2 female beta fish and all their attendant water conditioners, food and play plants--betas are supposed to be "sturdier." Same salad bowl. Lauren named hers Goldilocks, Kate named hers Marina, after the Fresh Beat Band and/or Uncle Michael's friend--she couldn't decide. Day 2--they're still alive.

...oh dear blog--it's been a while. And for those who may think that my prolonged blog absences are due to a pending announcement--check back in a few years. And no Allison, that is not another "decoy."

A little more of what we've had going on...in no chronological order...

Lauren's kindergarten field trip to the Long Beach Aquarium in April...we had a family membership for a year, so we'd been a number of times, so the best part was being with just Lauren. It's easy to remember that you like your kids when it's one-on-one. Take away 2 siblings, take away all the fighting, the majority of the whining, 10 potty breaks for Kate, and a toddler that won't stay in his stroller--take all that away and get an awesome morning with just my 5-year-old.


Andy's parents came into town for a quick weekend. Andy had asked his dad to help put together the kids' new swing set. Little did we realize just how beastly the project would be. It's hard to describe the depth of the torture that we put Chuck and Andy through for 12 hours! There must have been 3000 pieces of wood and screws...don't be fooled by those Costco swing sets--they are not for the amateur. We ended up hiring a handyman for 3 full days in order to finish it. The kids love it, but the process was scarring.



I might just be the last person on earth to finally buy an iPod...and I still don't use it all that often. I did put some kids stuff on it, and I found Lauren sitting on top of her bed, listening and looking like a 13 year-old teenager...

My good friend Shelley sent me this shirt from Japan when Charlie was born...of course I wondered if it would ever fit him...inevitably he grew and now wears the shirt. I got to spend the day with Shelley here at the house last week and enjoyed every minute of it. She was coming through LA for a week after spending a week in Hawaii, and we got together and chatted the day away. Her kids are darling and getting so big...one day we will again live in the same country, although not anytime soon. Sigh.

The swing set came with 5 things to hang, but only 3 spots, so we put the tire swing on the apricot tree...technically there's only supposed to be one kid at a time in order to save our poor arthritic tree...they must have ignored me...what?

Another round of green eggs and ham...

One of my favorite things about Charlie right now is how expressively he says the word "no." I caught it perfectly--he sticks his little lips out and elongates the word.

Yes, we did celebrate Easter--with an assortment of egg hunts and baskets and candy...Sunday afternoon we hid eggs around my parents' yard and the kids searched...Lauren is jumping for a yellow egg on the branch...

I can't remember why Kate is wearing her pajamas in the middle of the day on Easter...but pictures don't lie.


A recent family hike in the mountains above us...Lauren is trying to get Charlie to look at the camera.


Friday night dinner and ice cream, complete with dancing fountains...


I always thought it would be fun to have 3 little girls...

The BEST indoor playground with huge inflatable jumpers....I left Charlie with a babysitter and took the girls over spring break. They had a blast.

Kate's Easter program at school. For some reason she's making kiss-y faces at the audience. I have a million photos from this event, but Charlie is in most of them, as he was the obnoxious sibling that was cruising across the stage and poking kids in the face for most of the program. I can't decide if it's more annoying to let him do it, or to be the parent that has to walk up and get him 25 times. Can't he just sit next to me quietly on the bench?

I've got lots more pics from my Europe trip--I'll post some of them soon. I was gone for 16 days and missed my kids and husband, but had a fantastic time. It's good to be back in a routine again that doesn't include so much walking and pastry eating. My mom did well while we were gone and was in good care. She starts chemo next week and is slowing getting used to this new routine of re-arranging her life around phone calls from City of Hope.

On a closing note, I was driving yesterday bopping my head to Michael Jackson's "Black or White, " and when the song ended the station blurb came on for K-Earth 101--the oldies station in LA. I know he's gone and all, but since when does Michael Jackson qualify as an "oldie?"