The way he thinks.....

Alex was complaining about lots of random things this morning and I said, "you really shouldn't complain so much.  You have a really good life and you are so lucky that you live here."  (So parental of me.)

His reply:  "You mean because no pirates live here?"

Yep, that's why you are lucky buddy...among other things :-)

Cheap Entertainment

Julia is very resourceful when it comes to entertaining herself.  She would much rather play with "real" things, rather than toys.  Every morning, when I take a shower, she plays with a box of travel size toiletries, which I keep in the bathroom cabinet.  She takes them from the box and puts them into a couple of bags and then proceeds to dump them out and refill.  It makes her so happy and keeps her busy!

She still loves to play with the utensils in the kitchen drawers as well.  The other day, while I was putting away groceries, she found a box of arugula, opened it up and took out a paper plate from "her" drawer and proceeded to put the salad onto her plate.

Yep, we're all about cheap entertainment here.  If you need anything organized or a salad made for you, Julia might be your gal.

Sweet Girl

Julia cruising in her coupe on this lovely Friday afternoon.

Garden Progress

Alex with his snacking tomatoes

I love how the tomatillos looks like little paper lanterns on the plant.

More French green beans

Chocolate cherry tomatoes

Little girl watering

even though the watering can is practically bigger than her!

Checking out the garden

Our crazy monster tomato.  The blossom was a megabloom, with many fused together.  It almost looks like six of the tomatoes fused together.  The green one on the right is the normal size.

The Ronde de Nice squash coming in.

The garden is quite happy, especially with the warmer weather.  The tomatoes seem to be doing well and Alex has harvested quite a few of the non-heirloom grape tomatoes.  The heirloom varieties which we purchased as seedlings at the farmer's market a few months ago are looking good and they all have fruit on them.  Alex enjoys just eating the grape tomatoes, so it is like a little snack plant for him.  He also enjoys eating the green and purple beans after picking them too.  The chilis are starting to come in with the warmer weather and the tomatillos are looking good, so hopefully they will produce a bunch of fruit for us too!

Oh Boy..

Latest 4 y.o. obsession: whales. This morning at the breakfast table he was "sifting" his oatmeal and milk "like a whale does with krill". Full points for creativity, no points for good table manners.

Big Girl

I was folding laundry this morning in the laundry room and wondered where Julia went to.  Often times she goes and sits on the chair in Alex's reading nook and reads books.  Today, I found her in his bathroom brushing her teeth.  She is quite proud that she can get up onto the stepstool and reach the sink and we will now be closing that door all of the time, because she has no fear..ha!

Swimming!

Swimming summer 2012 0004 from David Chng on Vimeo.

Alex has been making alot of progress swimming this summer.  He has taken lessons at Campo (the high school) for the past four weeks and will be moving up to the next level for next week and the week after.  Last year he wouldn't get his face wet without goggles and this year, doing "bobs" is one of his favorite things.  I'm looking forward to seeing what happens the next two weeks.  Note:  The water is 3 feet 6 inches deep and there isn't a step for him to stand on until right next to the wall.

Saturday

 I love this photo of Julia and Alex actually playing together, while waiting for the paella to finish up tonight.

Julia was putting her "OvGlove" on.  All ready to help with the fire.

Police Action

Yesterday afternoon before swim lessons, I took the kiddos to the library for a bit (because we love the library and secondly, because it is air conditioned and it was 100 degrees yesterday).  As we drove up, there  was a police car with the lights flashing.  This is not terribly unusual, as the police here have a penchant for giving out speeding tickets.  The strange thing was that there was no car that had been pulled over.

We went into the library and found a new chapter book (The Magic Treehouse series is now a favorite).  As we were getting ready to leave, Julia and Alex captured the attention of an older couple who was trying to figure out the self checkout system.  After entertaining the kiddos with animal noises for a full five minutes, the gentleman told us that the police were there because the one of the herds of cows, which are a fixture on the hills here in Moraga, had decided to come down to the library which happens to have a shady redwood grove behind it. Hence the police car.  The police were in the back herding the cows until the wrangler came to get them.  I guess even the cows were hot!  Gotta love small towns.  Just a little bit different than the police action in Oakland.

Updated with link to local article with photos:  http://lamorinda.patch.com/articles/moraga-cattle-drive#photo-10652834

Hmmmmm....

Perhaps this is why bedtime was so hellish last night.  When emptying his bathroom garbage today this is what I found. Apparently someone does not like the gobstoppers or whatever that gross candy is.  Looks like he tried some bubble gum (although he probably ate it like candy), along with an assortment of hard candies.  We went to a birthday party on Monday and this was some of the loot from the pinata, which apparently made it into his possession, most likely during "quiet time" yesterday.  To his credit....he was definitely quiet and he put the wrappers in the garbage!  Typically, I just throw all of the candy away, because he is not really interested and does not miss it.  Good to know he doesn't just eat it to eat it.  At least some of it was unappealing.  Ha!

Cooking

Helping me make a smoked salmon, goat cheese quiche for dinner tonight.

 Helping me in the kitchen in his new kitchen stand in March 2009.

How time flies!

Driving

Julia plays with all of my extra kitchen tools which are stored in the bottom drawer every day.  Lately, I have noticed that she uses the candy thermometer as a steering wheel and makes car noises while she does it.  She cracks me up!  

Crazy Kiddo

Alex is really into picking out his clothes and getting dressed on his own, which is great.  His outfit this morning took matching to another level.  :-)

Cutie Girl!

 Those big eyes get me every time!

 A Grandma at the pool the other day told me that Julia has eyes the color of Elizabeth Taylor's eyes.

 She loves to play with trucks.  You can tell she is a little sister.

 The cute two tooth grin.

Having a lot of fun playing with the little girl.

Mika Turns 5!

Mika is turning five and we attended a fun birthday party for her on Saturday.  Esmond and Nat made a life sized version of the Angry Birds game, which Alex had fun trying out.  There was face painting, water spraying to keep cool, crafts and lots of treats.  It was fun to hang out and enjoy the sunshine and celebrate Mika turning five (already)!

Julia's 4th of July Dress

I really liked this navy striped Gap maternity top because it was so comfy and soft.  Finally, last week I found a way to reuse it.  Thanks to a pattern which I had printed out from Made over a year ago, Julia now has a comfy new dress.  http://www.danamadeit.com/2010/06/amore-italiano-and-warhol-dress-free-pattern.html

Jam!

Trying to preserve some of these yummilicious Rodriguez Farms strawberries for the rest of the year!

Camp Chng

On Saturday afternoon we spent alot of time in the backyard.  Alex was busy prepping the firepit for the evening campfire.  He did a very nice job of stacking up the sticks and getting it all ready.  We enjoyed s'mores as a result of his hard work.  Julia is enjoying the tricycle these days and is just hoping that someday she will be able to reach the pedals.  At this point, we would need to get some awfully large blocks for those pedals.  She loves to steer and make vroom vroom noises as she rides it.  Too cute!

Let's Go to the Zoo!

 Enjoying La Farine sandwiches

 Keeping herself occupied in the stroller

Riding on the tomato frog statue

Alex, Julia and I went to the Oakland Zoo the other day, while Daddy had the fun job of painting the kitchen ceiling.  We stopped at La Farine in our old neighborhood to pick up some sandwiches for a little picnic, before heading over to the zoo.  It was quite a busy day, so the parking was crazy, but eventually we found a spot and got all settled with all of our stuff and the stroller.  Typically, Julia does not go in the stroller.  Actually, she's never been in the stroller, so it was an experiment.  It turned out to be partially successful, but it seems that many things are not so viewable from the stroller, so it was kind of a half in stroller, half out of stroller kind of day.  Julia enjoyed the giraffes, most likely because they were so much easier to see, than anything else.  Alex was bummed that the lemurs were taking a nap on their platform.  I thought there were quite smart to be just chilling out and frankly, I would have liked a nap too ;-)

Due to a ticket line which was just way too long, we skipped the carousel, but that will be on the list for next time!

UC Berkeley Botanical Garden

It was a gorgeous day outside today and we took full advantage of it, by visiting the botanical gardens at UC Berkeley.  There are so many beautiful flowers and plants to explore.  Alex had a blast checking out the pitcher plants, the cacti, the plants in the crops of the world section, and the sundial.  Julia slept through the first half of the visit, but was quite excited to wake up in such a pretty place, with all kinds of places to explore.  Afterwards, we went into Berkeley and visited La Mediterranee for lunch, which was as always, delicious!  What a fun day off with Daddy!

4th of July!

We had fun at the Orinda Parade today.  Weather was perfect and there were plenty of things in the parade to keep the kiddos interested.  Julia slept through about half of the parade, but when she woke up she was quite excited to see balloons and streamers everywhere and to hear music.  She was thoroughly enjoying her first parade experience.  Alex had fun and enjoyed trying to catch some of the candy which was being thrown out. Thanks to Grandma Elaine for the face paint.  As you can see, Alex wanted to try it out.

This afternoon a huge moving truck broke down on our street, so the entertainment for about an hour, was watching the giant tow truck try to get the semi up the hill in front of our house.  Now, off to a barbeque with friends.  Happy 4th of July!