a real treat

last halloween was probably my most favorite because we spent it with close friends in chicago. we trick-or-treated together with our same aged babes, ate dinner together, and enjoyed good company. i was sad to not be able to do that again this year. in fact, so sad that i kind of didn't get into halloween as much this year... until we got into it.

on thursday night, we sat down to get down to the business of carving our pumpkins. usually, this is a daddy centered activity and the kids just sort of watch. but this year, e was really into it. she spent a lot of time thinking about what she wanted carved onto her jack-o-lantern. scott, always the good daddy, let e be the guide. in fact, impressively, he started out the process by letting the girls sketch out some ideas.

d, kept saying, "do homework" as we did this and then laughed her head off. ahh, d, my little funny girl. once a design was settled on, e got down to business drawing the design onto the pumpkin. she took this task very seriously...

and did a great job! then both girls watched intently as mommy scooped out the guts (they wouldn't touch the guts with a ten foot pole) and daddy carved out the bat design.

saturday was a long day. the girls were both so excited all day long. they both couldn't wait to put on their costumes and hit the pavement. e was dressed as super girl and d was dressed as super girl's sidekick, super kitty. (super girl doesn't really have a kitty as a sidekick, but e really wanted a sidekick and d was happy to fill the part provided she could be a kitty.) and if you must know, they have been playing their roles for the past few weeks... every day. i am impressed that their costumes made it to halloween without any stains, rips, tears or holes because these costumes have been well worn.

and sweet p was... well, a sweet p.

they were pretty stinking cute. last year, e had to be coaxed into ringing bells and asking for candy. but this year, she was a pro. she was ever so cute. she did all the things you hope your kids will do. she rang, she smiled, she sweetly sang out her obligatory "trick or treat" and then she politely said "thank you" each and every time. d, looking up to her sister followed suit. e was very serious about gathering candy. she was on a mission and didn't want to waste time.

d, was a little different. after each house, she would reach into her pumpkin and pull out her newest treat and smile with sheer delight. she was thrilled with each candy score and wanted to show us her most recent acquisition. at a few houses, she would wait on the sidewalk with scott, p and i... all the while saying "scary". and at one house, after getting her treat, she did a little hop/skip for the homeowner and said, "meow".

e's favorite part occurred after we arrived home. i thought the thrill was going to be emptying out their pumpkins and analyzing the loot. but that wasn't e's highlight. what really did it for her was opening the door and handing out candy to those that rang our bell. she LOVED it. she meticulously handed each kid their candy. after they left she would remark about a favorite costume and tell me if someone had forgotten to say "thank you". she thought it was hysterical when someone sang out, "trick or treat, smell my feet..." and just as soon as she would share something with me the bell would ring again. e would yell out, "my customers are here!"

while i greatly missed my friends and our time together, it was a treat for this momma to see her babes engaged in this year's festivities.

the rest of the story

the other day i wrote a facebook status update about this really yummy dinner that i was making. lots of comments were made in response to the update. some of them indicating that i've got it all together. there are a couple funny things that went through my mind as i read them:


1- when i made the post i never even stopped to consider how it would make someone else feel. i didn't consider that for someone who doesn't like to cook it might make them feel inadequate. i never thought about how someone who was pressed for time might feel envious of my "free time". i simply made the post. i put it out there, letting anyone of my "friends" read my update and draw any conclusion that they might. life is like this a lot. people see just one tiny part of a very large whole.


2-as i read the comments i also thought about "the rest of the story". the post indicated that i was making this super fab dinner. from reading it you could possibly conclude that "she's got it all together". but what really happened paints an entirely different picture.

stick with me here.

on tuesday morning i meant to pull some chicken breasts out of the freezer for the dinner i had planned. i remembered that i had forgotten to do this at 3 in the afternoon when i went to prepare our dinner (apple and bacon stuffed chicken breasts in gorgonzola cream sauce, if you must know). i felt a little bit defeated because i knew in that moment that there was no way to defrost and stuff the chicken if the chicken was still frozen. i pulled the chicken out of the freezer and resolved to make that for dinner on wednesday. and then i got down to the business of figuring out what we would have for dinner on THAT day. (i don't remember what we had, but i can guarantee that it was something simple, basic and pretty lame.)

on wednesday at around 3 i went to the refrigerator with a happy smile. i knew that TODAY the chicken was happily waiting for me to stuff- defrosted thank you very much. i got a little glimmer in my eye because i knew dinner was going to be great. each kid was contained and focused on a task and i could safely direct my attention towards getting the chicken stuffed well before the dinner hour. i got down to business. i chopped, i sauteed, i stirred, i stuffed. and it looked good. it smelled delish. when i finished the stuffing process i made a facebook status update about my accomplishment in anticipation of the dinner i was looking forward to.


and then i went on about my afternoon with the girls.


at about 5:15 i looked over the rest of the recipe to see what steps remained. i began to gather up the ingredients for the sauce and at that moment realized that my cream had passed its expiration date. trying to salvage my dinner, i made a quick call to my sister to see what substitutions can be made for heavy cream. unlucky for me, i didn't have those either. and so at 5:30 i decided i was going to have to load up the car for a quick run to the grocery. ugh. three kids, car seats, parking lots, carts with three kids... suddenly my dinner felt less exciting. but off to the store i went in an effort to salvage our dinner. if i got in and out of the grocery in under 30 minutes (door to door) i could still pull off a yummy dinner. difficult task- but not impossible.


i literally walked in the door with three minutes to spare. i hustled the kids in the door, put my head down and got to work. and as i got to work i realized that i had forgotten an entire step in the recipe. i did a quick evaluation and realized that there was no way this dinner was going to make it onto the plate in time. and so with a sad heart i abandoned the chicken, yet again, and moved on to something easier.


thursday came, and while ellie was at school and delaney was napping, i attempted to complete the missing step. i accomplished this- if you can call preparing chicken with a screaming baby in the background an accomplishment. at the proper time i placed the dinner into the oven, perfectly timed so that when scott walked in the door it would be ready to plate. and that all would have been fine had the chicken cooked in the time the recipe had said it would. but it didn't. and so 45 minutes after scott walked in the door, dinner was on the table. e and d were starving and misbehaving by this point and p was screaming her head off. scott and i tag teamed and ate one at a time. and while the dinner was tasty, it was a few days late and not at all enjoyable.


and so there you have it, the rest of the story. it doesn't leave you feeling incompetent or less domestic. it doesn't leave you feeling like a poor manager of time. it doesn't make you feel like less of a mom for putting hamburger helper in front of your babes five nights a week--- or whatever it is you might do at your house. and if you manage to pull off fancy gourmet dishes on a regular basis, it might even leave you feeling a twinge of pride, or accomplishment... or whatever it is that it does in your heart.


i guess the conclusion is that each day, we go about our business and we drop bombs. they might be in a facebook status update, a comment at the park, through our appearances, through our possessions. and these bombs might be harmless, not ill intentioned in any way. but none-the-less they might be bombs to someone. see, we find so much of our worth in what others do. we can make lists of ways in which so and so is better at such and such. we can let our heart be imprinted because our dishes are piled up in the sink and we are sure that the momma next door has hers neatly in the dishwasher... or better yet, washed and back in the cabinet. we can get down because our purse or our mom jeans haven't been updated in three seasons and every time we run into that momma at the park she is stylish and hip in the latest fashions. sometimes people do this to us, on purpose. but most often, i find, we do this to ourselves.


the root of the problem is this. we are our own worst critic. we can extend grace to others but have no idea what it looks like to extend it to ourselves. we receive messages all day long, and let them rewrite the script of our worth. and we define our worth through things that don't really matter.


for me, i know (but often have trouble remembering) that my worth lies in the redeemed child of God that i am. on my own, i am worth nothing... no matter how many apple and bacon stuffed chicken breasts in gorgonzola cream sauce that i can place on the table in front of family and friends. my worth lies solely in the hands of my friend and father, God. because of Him, and the sacrifice He made, i can rest in the fact that on the other side i'll be worth something.

and while i'm here on this side of heaven, my job is to be His hands and His feet in this world. i can't own the interpretations that people make from watching my life but i can set the record straight when the interpretation might be askew. and by doing so, sure, i reveal my own imperfections. by throwing a brick at my own crystal palace, i let people see that i am just me. practically imperfect in every way. and by doing so, i give permission for those around me to do the same. and what's to gain from this? lots! we can walk forward, hand in hand embracing our imperfections. maybe we can even laugh at them together. and together, we can encourage one another. maybe, rather than feeling less than, we can walk away feeling normal.

and maybe, just maybe, we can help point one another in the direction of the One who owns our worth and brings real meaning into our lives.

field trip

today was e's first field trip... EVER! (e loves to add this to the end of any sentence so i will follow suit since this post is about her.) these california schools do things a little bit differently than they did back in my day. back in my day...

i'll spare you the "back in my day" story and just stick to the facts. schools out here don't use buses. they don't use buses for getting kids to school each day. they don't use buses for getting kids home from school each day. and so it should come as no surprise that they also don't use buses for getting kids to or from field trips. that leaves you with the following options.

option a) sign a form and then put your kiddos car seat into the car of some other parent to take them to and from the field trip

or

option b) drive your kiddo to school, check them out of school for the day and then drive them (without any siblings in tow) to the field trip destination.

or

option c) present your california drivers license (which i don't have yet... and that's a whole different post), your california insurance (again... don't have yet), get approved by the district and then load up your car with other people's kiddos and chaperon them on the trip.

option c was ruled out for us from the jump, and option a felt creepy and scary as i don't really "know" any other parents. even if i did, i'm not sure i'd choose it... but option b presented its own issues as i do in fact have two other children who are apparently unwelcome on class trips. (seriously, how do parents around here hold down jobs?)

and so today was a "first" for more than one reason. miss poppy was away from her mommy for the first time... EVER with our new, very capable sitter. and mommy and miss e were footloose and fancy free at alden lane nursery.

and isn't she the perfect pumpkin? i think so. they made this sign just for her, right?

it was a really fun day for lots of reasons. there were pumpkins, and pumpkins are always fun. e got to be the line leader and we all know that's fun. we learned about walnuts, walnut trees and the process of washing and shelling walnuts. that was pretty cool. we also learned about tons of native plants and what their uses are. momma finally got to see her girl "in action" so to speak and was reassured that our girlie is doing a-ok with this kindergarten thing (as we suspected). momma also got to see the trouble makers first hand and make a mental list of who we might like to be arranging play dates with. and as an extra bonus, momma met a bunch of other mommas who were all pretty nice. icing on the cake... e got to select her very own pumpkin to bring home. now who wouldn't have fun on that trip?

and as for poppy? she was just fine without me.

e unscripted

what is your favorite thing about california?
driving up and down mountains and going to the city of san francisco

what is your favorite thing about school?
free choice time. i like computer time, too.

what do you choose for free choice time?
sometimes i play house and other times i play blocks

who do you like to play house with?
arianna and caylee, oh and also alexis

what do you miss most about chicago?
i miss swimming lessons and zoey. i miss kate and macy. i miss the indoor playground, too.

what do are you going to be for halloween?
i'm going to be super girl and buggy is going to be super kitty. next year for halloween i am going to be an angel and the year after that i am going to be dorothy.

is there anything else you want to tell me?
no. i'm done.

name 10 words that start with the letter "p":
payton
pig
parsnip
peacock
pea
pumpkin
petals
peppers
polly pockets
police

can i be done with this now?

e's doing really well. we can't believe that she is in kindergarten and that is getting so big. along with being a really good student, she is also an amazing big sister.

three little pumpkins

this weekend we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. usually we combine this activity with apple picking, but since we are in new territory, we thought we'd switch it up a bit. in scott's opinion it was the best pumpkin patch he's every been too. for me, the landscape was out of this world. the patch was nestled between mountains and my eyes were delighted by the rolling landscape that california offers. anywho...

we took a spin on the carousel. yes, i do know that d has her sunglasses on upside down and her shoes on the wrong feet! she prefers 'em that way, if you must know the truth. and since i've started sharing random details, i'll continue. e named her pony sparkles. and then changed it to princess. and then back to sparkles. then back to princess. she finally landed on isabella... thank you very much.

e's favorite part was the teeny tiny pumpkins. she asked about 100 questions/minute regarding these teensy little orange gems. momma may have started making up answers to said questions after maybe question 12 because i just flat ran out of knowledge concerning jack be littles.

sweet p posed for her obligatory "baby leaning against pumpkins" photo.

d almost lost her britches in all of the excitement (so to speak).

and after hours and hours (at least it felt like that), e found her perfect pumpkin.

and suddenly, i am coming to realize that with three kiddos, getting the perfect photo is near impossible.

on the way home, my camera ran out of juice. and wouldn't you know it, we saw a rooster walk out in front of our car, goats on a hill, cows, horses and an entire flock (assuming that's the correct term) of real live turkeys. in fact, had daddy not been so alert, we would have had one to bring home... you know, as in a la road kill! yikes.

and after all of THAT... momma and daddy had a little bit of this:

scott discovered this tasty pinot noir in a local wine shop, and well, we felt OBLIGATED to indulge. and so we did. a fun day for one and all!

i heart...

the end.

we could just...

eat her up! can you tell?

beautiful bounty

while living in chicago, our family has been members of a csa (community supported agriculture). every other week during the growing season, i would get a box of locally grown organic goodness. it was pure delight for this suburban, mid-western momma. i loved opening my box each week and discovering its contents. i loved the culinary challenge that it presented in finding quality recipes that my family would enjoy. i loved knowing that my family was enjoying these dishes sans pesticides. i know, i'm a little weird getting my kicks from methods of toxin avoidance. you can say it. i can handle it.

and so as we planned our move to calli, i day dreamed about getting similar food items at my local grocer. i anticipated grocery shopping with a new level of enthusiasm (truth be told, i have always liked grocery shopping). the week we were living in our hotel suite, i made my first grocery store run. i was disappointed. the organic section was smaller than the one in my local jewel store in chicago. it was not only smaller, but its contents were less than fresh. i chalked it up to not knowing where to go. i was certain that i had just hit a bad store. every area has them, and i must have stumbled upon pleasanton's. i was sad, but still had hope. but two weeks into our new town, i had tried 5 different stores and each one left me with the same sad selection. it was more than just disappointing. it was depressing. how could it be possible that i had moved to the land of organic milk and honey and not be able to get in on any of the action?

not being one that likes the feeling of defeat, i decided to peruse the internet. ah-ha... milk and honey found! what i discovered promises to wet my culinary appetite and challenge my inner chef... my inner foodie, if you will.

starting this week, and every other week for as long as i like, our family will be receiving a delivery from "farm fresh to you". ffty, as they are called, is a nearby farm that delivers their bounty to all who seek it. it is easy, and inexpensive, and organic, and local, and fresh, and brought to my front door every other week...


and quite beautiful! and now, momma is happy again! the end.

moving on

a few posts back i promised more installments detailing our move. but i've decided i'm moving on. i know you've been waiting on the edge of your seat (humor me, folks), but you'll have to trust me when i say you're not missing much.

the story, if told, might include things like poppy getting a bloody lip in the hotel room and considering a trip to the er. it could include things like a delayed flight followed by delaney kicking the back of a less than thrilled ornery woman's seat, who eventually switched seats and knocked scott in the head with her luggage. it possibly could detail my kids new found love affair with chili's restaurant and even have a segment about ellie's first day of school... from a hotel. but instead of bore you with THAT, i'd rather share this...

first smiles from my sweet p

momma (with poppy) who may or may not be making an inappropriate gesture under the foam finger. for me to know...

my clan at the giants v. cubs game

e donning her tennis gear for her weekly lesson.

e restraining (i mean, loving) her sister so daddy could snap a shot at "family fun fest", (while momma clearly forgot to remove the evidence that we may be in need of a pacifier intervention).

and last but not least, d riding the train.

isn't that WAY better than silly moving stories?