Quiet Weekend

We finally had a quiet weekend. It has been so long. It will probably be a long time until we have another, so we really enjoyed it.

We planted the garden. The number of tomato plants is directly proportional to how long I have been gardening. At least 80% of the garden is tomato plants this year.



I cannot get enough of warm tomatos plucked straight from the garden, so I just grow less of everything else.



We had a couple of birthday parties to attend, but while one child was at her's in the late afternoon, we sat at the park and the other kids did some sweet hill rolling, in the shadow of Mt. Diablo.



I imagine it is so quintessentially childlike because as we get older it just really hurts. It made me homesick for Shelby Farms and our dear hill-rollin' friends the Rehrer's (Congrats on the new baby!)









Bring on spring. I have been loving having all my door and windows open during the day. Here's to a few more weekends when we can enjoy the moment.

Professor Neve is Seven

I cannot believe Neve is seven. Crazy.



In honor of our second born's seventh birthday we threw her a big science bash over the weekend. We had so much fun mixing our chemicals and making goop and blowing things up. The kids were thrilled by the big pepsi/mentos finale.



Neve has really grown up this year. She is really turning into a young lady. She is still such a bookworm. Her report card we got last week was absolutely stellar. She is the most sensitive creature. She is always thinking about the feelings of others. She is an amazing artist and an increadible girl. Happy birthday, Neve the Red!

Missing: One fat cat

Our darling cat Halo is missing. He disappeared when we were out of town over the Christmas holiday. We have looked and looked. In the neighborhood, in the shelters, and the traffic reports. No Halo. We are so sad. We kind of let him fade into the past, until last week when Kiera spent 10 minutes or so arranging the magnets on the side of the fridge.



Our fat boy Halo may have used up all of his nine lives. We are still hoping some nice family thought all 20 pound of him was a stray and took him in. Sherman (our other cat) is sad. He was already a little mentally unstable, but this put him over the edge. Poor guy.




Anyone seen this sweet boy?

Sierra Summit Round Two

Life is more exciting when you are young. When my kids learn something new or do something for the first time, it makes MY life that much more exciting. I was a little worried about the day after our experience with our first ski day. With perfect weather, how could our day not be perfect. There was a little nervousness by the big girls about day two, but once they got back up on those skiis (and a little threatening to one young lady and her upcoming birthday party), all was well.



Kiera loved it. She kept telling us she didn't wan't to do pizza's (snowplow). She wanted to do french fries so she could go fast. Her and her cousin were the cutest little three year olds on the slopes.



Things were busy at the bottom of the hill, so Papa went went up with the big girls on their first chair lift. All the sweet video from that is courtesy superskiPapa. What an awesome grandpa to ski with his grandkids when he would rather be skiing 92 mph (is that the right speed record, Dad?) with his ski buddy Joel. Thanks, Dad!

All in all an awesome day.

Diablo Gymastics

Do you remember the last parent participation class I attended with Kiera? Let's just say, this one went much better.

Kiera loves this gymnastics class. Circus theme are so exciting. THIS is my girl. No more performance denial.

Brad and Auntie Lauren

We got a rare Tennessee family sighting this weekend. Memphis hottie herself, Lauren Callaway and her beau Brad came for a quick visit before moving on to their sweet new gig in Hawaii. It was a quick trip, but they did at least get a chance to ride the train into the city and eat Beard Papa cream puffs. Have you been? Ohhhh. So good. The lights are shaped like cream puffs. So Japanese.







Monday night we took them for a little hike while the big girls were at dance. The hills are amazing right now. You would never know that we will be the golden state again once the rains stop. Brad and Lauren have this whole jumping thing going on in their photo repertoire right now, so we thought it only fitting to put all the able bodied, present and accountable folks out there in the hills. Yes, that (able bodied) is a jab at Clay and his still gimpy knee. Anyone want to help him decide if he should have the surgery?







That night we were able to witness some In-n-out first timers enjoy some mighty fine Animal Style burgers. They did not disappoint.

Here's to a visit to the big Island sometime soon.