Nana's birthday

We wanted to make sure Nana had a good birthday since last year putting the cat to sleep on her birthday really put a damper on things.  She had requested we go to a flower show at the community center and everyone was game to check it out.  They were all varieties of camellias and were very pretty.  

 We then came home for a few rounds of Monopoly before going out to dinner.  There are no pictures from dinner because we ordered an obscene amount of food and practically hurt ourselves with how much we ate.  It was all very good and the kids behaved great at the restaurant.

Then we came home to digest and play a bit more Monopoly before birthday cake.  I made a lemon loaf cake with lemon cream cheese frosting.

 Happy birthday, Nana!

She said she had a great birthday and that was the goal!

Sunny's birthday party

Today, Serafina and I attended Sunny's 8th birthday party.  We've been to previous parties but last year we were in Tahoe and Serafina was bummed to miss it.  This year the party was at a kids' cooking place and the guests got to make their own pizzas.  They started out by decorating chef's hats.  

Here's Serafina, Gianna and Kayla rolling out some dough.

 Serafina got hers into a pretty nice heart shape.

They also got to decorate their own cupcakes.  Serafina started out with some very nicely piped icing.

Then it took a rather disgusting turn, but she was very excited about her candy-loaded cupcake.

First they ate the pizzas they had made.  I tasted Serafina's and it was pretty good.

All the party guests in their aprons.

Millie, Sunny (the birthday girl) and Serafina.

Sleepover Swap

On Thursday evening, my friend Cara and I swapped kids and I hosted her daughter Riley for a sleepover, while she took Leo to her house to have a sleepover with Addison.  

I only took one picture and it was the girls having breakfast.  I made pancakes, of course.  

 Cara did better with the pictures.

 Apparently, Andrew (the youngest of four and the only boy) really took a liking to Leo.  Here they are reading books.

Presidents' Day Ski Weekend

We drove up to Tahoe on Saturday morning.  Tom and I both appreciated driving in the daylight.  When we arrived, it was still early enough for them to get some skiing in, but too late for me to make a yoga class.  I dropped off the skiers and headed to the "big lake" - Lake Tahoe for a sunny stroll.  It was beautiful out and I really enjoyed the fresh air after the drive.  

 Sunday was a full ski day and a cold one at that.

 It started snowing on Sunday while we were at the ski spot.  Not a lot of snow, but that combined with a lot of cars on the road made getting home a huge mess.  Thankfully, our housemate clued us into the back route to the house.

Monday morning required some shoveling.

Here's some fun slow-mo videos of the kids catching air.  Serafina....

And Leo...

History Park San Jose

Today, three of the second grade classes visited the History San Jose Park.  Leo has been there twice before but I only went once last year.  

Here's my group - Serafina, Raz (pronounced Roz), Kevin and Brian.  Raz is an epic drama queen who hurts poor sensitive Serafina's feeling multiple times a day.  I've had Kevin and Brian in my field trip group before.  They are pretty easy.  

 We started out with time to explore, so we went to check out the covered wagon.

And the train.

 The whole class visited a nearby "friendship garden".

 Then it was time to meet the docent for a tour.

 They got to experience life in the 1890s, including sewing with a foot pedal machine.

 And ironing.

 Outside they had to carry heavy buckets of water.

 And pump the well.

 She never looks this happy helping with laundry at home.

 She really liked milking the pretend cow too.

Valentine's Day and more

At the end of last month, I got sick, really sick, with possibly the flu and definitely a sinus infection.  Thankfully my mom was close at hand to help and the doctor prescribed an antibiotic.  A couple days later, Serafina got sick with a sore throat and rash.  She missed school on Friday, February 2nd.  We also decided to skip our planned Tahoe trip that weekend so the sickies could recover.

Needless to say, this threw us off a bit since we are used to keeping an every-other-weekend schedule.  But there wasn't much to do but adapt.

Last Thursday, I was asked to help at Laurelwood Preschool where my kids went to school.  I've helped and substituted in the classroom before.  My friend Kristi, who teaches the three year olds, was getting three new students in one day - a set of boy twins and a little girl who's twin sister was placed in the next door classroom.  The boys did fine because they had each other.  The little girl, Navya, freaked out once her parents left.  Her sister, Nitya, was also very upset but their mom stayed in the classroom.  Navya spent over an hour crying, screaming, lunging for the door (which I blocked with my body) and hitting me.  All that drama wore her out and right before snack time she couldn't keep her eyes open.  I motioned to my lap and she plopped down and fell asleep.

 Aunt Sheila was in town and Thursday after school, the kids and I went to my mom's place to hang out and deliver an early birthday present - this little patio set.  Here's Sheila helping Serafina with some homework.  We were having unseasonably warm weather.

 We headed up to Tahoe on Friday night to make up for the missed weekend.  The warm weather took it's toll on the snow and the conditions weren't great, but these skiers made the best of it.

 Yesterday, Leo helped me make the cookies for his class Valentine's party.  He was very proud of his hard work and took the leftover cookies to share with his diving buddies at practice tonight.

 Leo is really into the Hamilton soundtrack right now.  I made him a Valentine's card with a line from one of his favorite songs.

 Here's a little "then and now" Valentine picture.  The top two are from when each kid was three with hats made at preschool.  The bottom pictures are from today.