Friday, August 31, 2007

Laguna Love

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Decided my hacking cough needed some fresh air, did wonders! Laguna Beach is the most fabulous place i know, if i had millions, a house here would be in order. There are miles of rocky coves with quirky houses of all shapes and sizes clinging to the cliffs, tangled stairs leading to hidden beaches where you are sure to find a cave or two. Somehow the umbrella was left at home so three hours of sun was our max, an ice-cream for the ride home and we called it a day.



Thursday, August 30, 2007

new projects

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finally getting my paintings,photos and some kid art framed, cant wait to get a cool arrangement up and running. this is the before... the after will come soon, i hope!



Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Los Cerritos Wildlife on YouTube

check this out.... youtube won't let me send to typepad, unfortunately!



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didn't really have a picture ready, ha ha!



Sneaky chef update

so far: emily has eaten two quesadillas spiked with yam/carrots, half a pan of brownies (spinach/blueberry puree within) and last night she polished off three bowls of mac and cheese loaded with more yam/carrot puree. she even begged lizzie to give up her bowl. ok now, is this a miracle or what? today i make the bean puree and cauliflower/zucchini... i think muffins are in order!



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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Lizzyisms

1. Just BAM it! (said if anything is "stuck" or if someone hits her she will say they BAMMED her)

2. It's not my fault, it was an "accident" (whenever she gets caught doing something wrong)

3. Whenever asked to choose between two things, she says "yes."

4. To make sure she really heard me, i started saying "let's shake on it" and "let's make a deal" to which she has combined to "Shakin the deal!" with a firm hand shake.

5. She is always searching for pacifiers and blankets, it has to be a specific color and never the one you can easily find. She will say i need the blue one, the pink one, the white one (even if those colors are in the one you are holding, somehow she knows which "color" she is talking about)

6. Favorite bad word: "butt" (she loves to say she will "smack your butt!" if you dont get her something, like a glass of milk) and "butthead" has just recently joined the list of butt comments (is someone watching mtv when we are all asleep?)

7. She uses "stupid" a lot and "shut up!" (sometimes when she is mad she will just string a long list of bad words together randomly). the best bad word so far was when i heard her say "frick!" (it was used wildly out of context, but i figured it out and yikes that was a shocker!)

8. If you ever raise your voice at her (which i admit i tend to do a lot) she will say, "You are not my friend!" what she means is that SHE thinks you don't like HER, because you raised your voice. so then YOU have to apologize.

9. i have mentioned before that no matter what is broken, she always says, "daddy can fix it with STICKY TAPE!!"

to be continued.....





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Camp mail

i always loved getting mail when i was away at camp, special boxes of goodies and letters from friends. i often spent the entire summer away, from about age 13 (until 19?) with maybe one week off on either end to go to the beach. all year after camp i kept in touch with other camp friends (like cleaver), missing the mountains and all the good friends i saw only at summertime.



after our recent week at camp shiwaka, i wanted the girls to get something in the mail to remind them of the time they shared together. we earned our "wise old kito" (similar to the wise old willie) patch which was all about camp, weather and other environmental themes. we made a nature trail and attended outdoor activities planned for us. "kito" is an owl and there is a pattern to make him out of felt which i just threw together during that whirlwind week. he is pretty rough, but is a true reflection of that kooky week! each feather represents air, earth, water, energy... cant remember them all, but you get the idea. i made a short dvd slideshow of the girls, always fun to do, although choosing music without some kind of profanity or broken hearted lover theme is tricky. chris is better at it than i am but he boycotted the project since he is busy sprucing up the boys room.



i sent emily a package too, so she could get one in the mail like everyone else. she even acted surprised to get it, didn't remember she had helped put them together. ok...





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so i am hoping the girls are all watching their movies while putting kito and bluebird pin onto their vests with minds full of fond memories of camp shiwaka! sweet dreams!



Sunday, August 26, 2007

Raw living

yeah, i know, raw food is like "what???" but i have been into it for a couple years now and although i don't LOOK it, i really LOVE it (and "GET" it) and would eat nothing but raw vegan food 24/7... that is if i lived on a deserted island with only coconuts to eat or had a raw food restaurant next door. it is super hard to eat this way, you starve waiting for things to dehydrate... but i really love the way you feel after a raw meal, the energy is off the charts. just something to think about.



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my top chef and i made "cinnamon girls" and some kind of coconut cookie thing. super yummy!



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mostly coconut, coconut butter, raw agave nectar, ground raw almonds, raw carob,raisins.... these will be eaten for breakfast next week.



oh and dont these resemble the seed bombs from the past? i will have an update on those shortly, the last time i went to the cabin there were some that were still intact on the hillside and some falling apart. i will be making more soon and continue to "bomb" our back hillside until i see any sign of life coming from them. cant wait for next spring!



oh and one more thing: emily was gone all weekend and lizzie kept asking for her. finally she said, "bring back my sister! you lost her!" how cute is that?



Saturday, August 25, 2007

My new obsession

ok, i have a lot of obsessions, but this is so cool! my oldest eats zero fruits and vegetables (i have mentioned this before) i mean ZERO!!! so i have been working on her to drink smoothies, trying to trick her into drinking veggies, mixed in with fruit, but she always fusses and complains. poor thing has a major complex about it. anyways, i stumbled onto this book and started making some of the purees (you hide them in cheesy dishes, muffins, brownies and meat) i made the tomato sauce with orange puree, the brownies with the purple puree and they taste amazing! you cannot detect the vegetables in there at all. the brownies have spinach and blueberries in them, we had a tiny piece with our dinner and no one had a clue. just smiles all around! i cant wait to make more and more of these, if i can get emily to eat even one serving of fruits and veggies a day i will be the happiest mom on earth! oh happy day!



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Reality Tv

Elizabeth has been playing with plastic food and dishes forever, she carts the stuff around with her (along with the pacifier, blanket, her brothers cars) everywhere we go. recently though while playing over, around and on top of us while we watched tv, someone finally said, "Lizzie! Please go play somewhere else, we can't see!" to which she answered, "I am NOT lizzie, i am TOP CHEF!" well, that would be my choice of shows to copy considering we watch a lot of reality tv.



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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Getting back on my feet,

so to speak



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new school shoes and playing with a new toy:



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therapy for the brain, button making.



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emily hasn't brushed her hair in like three days now, lizzie has worn the same dress for at least two, i am just in that kind of mood, no excuses here!



Friday, August 17, 2007

Camp Shiwaka 101

1. Don't sleep with a first aid kit in your pocket.

2. You need more "runners" than "cooks".

3. Don't place your table and sit-upons on the "mulch" because it looks softer. mulch is the food court of the bug world and you and your scraps are dessert.

4. "Hostess" at day camp can be a sorry job.

5. "Real" lemonade "tastes just like wine!" the next day, oh and the kids all agreed it tasted GOOD that way.

6. Runners eat first, and that includes dessert (when the runners get dessert last, they are not available to "run" right away after dinner, prime running time.)

7. Cups dont work at camp, even the most agile kid will trip and spill it at least once a day, water bottles only.

8. Make at least one mom come every single day with you so you both look like hell the last day together (no offense linda, ha ha!)

9. Clothespins are your friend.

10. Don't forget bowls and spoons when you bring cereal for breakfast.

11. Don't run to the lodge in the middle of the night or one of the Directors will chase you down in her car!

12. You can cook hotdogs on a long fork but you will burn your hand doing it.

13. It takes 4 kids to carry the utility box on monday, but only 2 on friday.

14. Your dish wash stand can't be over the kids heads.

15. Kids can sew their own ditty bags ( awesome job girls!) but moms probably should have.

16. You don't need to cook a 5 pound bag of spaghetti for 14 girls, but you can do it in a dutch oven!

17. Don't be overzealous when stirring spaghetti, or you just might put out your fire before you can cook your s'mores (yes i did that last night).

18. Always answer your phone in the morning on friday, it might be your husband bringing everyone coffee and looking for your campsite (sorry chris!).

19. Tell everyone to pick up their kids at 9:30 am on friday, even though camp is over at 10 am.

20. Last but not least, make sure you don't break your toe the sunday before camp starts!



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packing up



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the "polar" bears are restless



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camp is officially "broken" (along with my toe! had to say that, sorry)



Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Camp Shiwaka Daycamp, day three

hello there! day three here:



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ants on a log (in our case it was penguins on an iceberg)



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"trust" game



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emily caught peeking



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lunchtime



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goofing around



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snowcone making



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Day Two Camp Shiwaka

hobbling around at camp day two, i finally decided that pain of 8 on a scale from 1 to 10 just might be serious after all... had chris xray my toe at his work and listen to him say "oh!" and " yep!" to his buddy while i say "what! what!!" (remember i read ultrasound, zero ability to read x rays) they point at something and i SEE IT TOO!! that means it was a good enough crack to see, ouch!



"now what?" i ask them, they don't know so i have to spend 4 hours in the emergency room (catching a cold along the way dammit!) to get a walking/cast/shoe thingy and be shown how to tape my toes together, just lovely. oh, and it will take 6 to 8 weeks to heal.



let's take a tally: head cold, exhausted, weight to lose (6 weeks no excercise? yeah thats gonna be good), "officially" broken toe... three more days of camp walking up and down gopher holed hills... feeling a little sorry for myself? well, at least camp is fun!



so lets get back to camp:



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they aren't quite ready for this, more like this



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penguin crafts



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"ice" bracelets



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favorite photo of the day



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our "all camp capers" for the day was wiki clean up (thankfully no photos of that) and flag lowering. the girls did such a great job!



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Monday, August 13, 2007

Camp Shiwaka Daycamp, day one

considering i think i broke a toe or something last night (midnight meeting with our danish chair in the dark) and could hardly walk .... we did pretty good today!



first day of camp, i had zero expectations, just a show up and get through it attitude. our day camp aides were so awesome i am tempted to take one or two home permanently.... here are a few pictures of the day:



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gourmet dining tables





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caper chart (i have to admit that i squawked at the girls because "someone" had scrambled up the cards... only to have a shy child raise her hand sweetly and say she and a few others had put them back after the wind blew them out... ooops!!!)



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snowman making in the lodge



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a lot of walking... our all camp chore was "general camp clean up" which meant we did a litter walk around camp



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ice block racing (did i mention the theme this week is polar adventure?)



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crafts, crafts and more crafts



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my office