Springtime in San Diego

We are on Spring Break this week! Which means my boys are doing a lot of reading and playing Legos and not getting dressed until after lunch. Today, however,  they are over at a neighbor's house for a few hours playing "Fun Land". The boys' friends created a theme park in their back yard and made little tickets to pass out to the neighbor kids. Apparently there will be games, prizes and rides! Sounds like fun, all created and maintained by kids under 10.  I'm insanely curious to see what they're doing, but at the same time I'm really enjoying the quiet time around the house. So, here's a blog post to fill the empty time while the kids are doing kid things!

Owen ran a 2 mile Run/Walk race over St. Patrick's Day weekend. I cajoled Paul to go with him. Actually, I just signed Paul up and told him he was running with Owen ;).  They had fun! Elliot and I followed them to the finish line, so by the end the whole family had participated. It was a gorgeous Spring morning in San Diego with the kind of gloomy overcast grey sky that blossoms to a sunny and cool afternoon. Perfect for a family outing down at the Bay...

Before the race

Elliot's race consisted of a lot of chasing of ducks and climbing of trees.

Everybody gets a medal!

Palm Springs Weekend

Back in February (yes, I'm still a month behind on my updates...) we spent a lovely President's Day weekend visiting with friends in Palm Springs. We stayed in a fancy-ish hotel and swam in the pool a lot which is pretty much all the boys needed to make it the most awesome weekend ever in their minds. To top it all off, though, we went and explored Joshua Tree National Park and then Palm Canyon. All my years living in Southern California and I'd never been there! All I can say is: Wow.

What a gorgeous place.

View over the Coachella Valley

Palm Canyon

Finding the springs

Elliot finds the perfect seat.

What happened in February?

Well, a lot happened in February! I don't know what it is but I know a lot of Aquarians in my inner circle of friends and family. The month starts with Paul's birthday on the 1st and then right into Elliot's birthday 10 days later. And in there are also birthdays for my Mom, Paul's Dad, friends... you can imagine that February flies by in a birthday daze!

Since, thankfully, the calendar continues to flip over to February every year, we did manage to celebrate another slew of birthdays last month. Have you heard the news? Elliot is 6!!!!!!!!

Before I tell you about the party, I will say that Owen and Elliot don't watch "TV" but I do let them stream movies and TV shows on Netflix if the need or the desire is great. So, in fact they do watch TV shows, but without commercial interruptions and at my approval. For the last while they have been engrossed in Mythbusters and Man Vs. Wild. Both shows that I feel are educational and entirely entertaining! Elliot loves Bear Grylls (the host of Man Vs. Wild) and fancies himself an adventurer, so we decided to throw him a party that reflected his love.

We invited his friends to our local park and spent the afternoon pretending to be in the deep wilderness. I had planned all these activities to keep the kids busy, but in the end the boys and girls ran around like maniacs foraging in the dirt, playing in the creek bed, climbing trees and having fun. Pretty much the perfect birthday for my 6 year old adventure boy. Every day is an adventure to him because he is so enthusiastic and energetic about everything!

Inside the Tree Fort

Roaming the "Forest"

Throwing Rocks in the "River"

Edible "Bug" Cake

And now he's 6. No longer a little baby or even a little boy, anxious to be a young man like his big brother but not afraid to throw his arms around me and say "I LOVE YOU, MOMMY!" with the most earnest and whole body commitment you can imagine. This kid has a lot to teach me about embracing life's excitement and remembering to PLAY! ( When I describe Elliot I find myself using a lot of capital letters and exclamation points, as you can see....).

We love him so much. Happy 6th Birthday, Elliot!

 

Timeline Family Tree

We've been working on this for Owen's 4th grade class for the past week. Thanks to all the family members who answered questions and assisted Owen with the research! It's very impressive and I look forward to getting it back from the teacher and laminating it for a more permanent display.

2013

Hello strangers.

I made a conscious decision to step away from the computer a little more over the last few months. What a feeling! I've read more books in the last 4 months than in the last 4 years, I think! I've been able to bake more, spend more time with the kids and Paul and shorten my "To Do" list measurably. I still feel overwhelmed sometimes by all the things that I feel must be accomplished each day, but by factoring in quality "Me" time (although I really dislike the greediness and selfishness of that phrase) I do feel more content with where I am in my family and home and work life here in the beginning of 2013.

I'm not really a resolution maker when it comes to the New Year, but I always find time to clarify my intentions. This year looks like this:

2013 Intentions
1. Read.
2. Get outside.
3. Nourish existing friendships by scheduling social time.
4. Invite friends over for dinner.

So far this has been very satisfying. It seems odd to have to write on a list "Schedule time with friends" but those of you with young kids know that you have to schedule it or it somehow NEVER happens. Right?

Of course, the down side is I have done no blog posting since November of last year and of course there is much to tell about  Life with Owen and Elliot.

Here's hoping the new balance I'm striving for in my home and work life can include some photos and anecdotes about our busy days.

Thank you all for sticking with me!

-Lisel