Big Night Out

I think the interview went well. I didn't do anything too embarrassing I think. I now have to wait for a week to find anything out.

In other news, I did not get to participate in the craft fair for which I have been preparing. (how's that for not ending a sentence in a preposition) There was some miscommunication about whether I was donating my goods, or selling them. Suffice it to say, I am disappointed and Jason is pissed, but my always clever mother-in-law came up with a few local craft fairs I can sign up for, so I'm gonna. In fact, I've even added to the offerings. I was inspired by Lena's near constant tea party. She especially likes to bring us cake, so I made her a couple little cakes and it sort of grew from there. See for yourself. Jason has pointed out that my "cakes" seem to be a bit divorced from reality, but who wouldn't want a cake with flowers on it? So that's what I've been up too mostly. I'm also working on Elizabeth's project and I think it might even work. (yay!) So hopefully I'll have all my stuff done soon and can start making more unrealistic yarn tea cakes. I plan on opening an Etsy store in the next month or so. I just need to take some better pictures and think of a good name for my store . Any suggestions?

I teach the English

I have an interview today. I am nervous.I hope they like me. I can't stop writing simple sentences. I teach the English. AHHHHHHH!!!!!

more videos

I've posted two more videos on vimeo:
see videos here

I finally got one of Pilar where she is not screaming. Not to be outdone, Lena wanted one of her too, thus two videos.

Most Likely to Hear a Who

So Lena found the "How Babies are Made" book somewhere in her room. Don't ask me where it was (or why) but she found it. We've "read" it in that we've used the words mommy, daddy, egg, and sperm. Not much more detail, just enough to create embarrassing possibilities. I can't wait.

Anywho.... Lena is now understandably interested in eggs: what's in them, where mine are, where hers are...etc. So, last Friday at school when she found a plastic easter egg she promptly put it in a stump, made a little nest (with some help), and attempted to hatch it. She dutifully sat on it for about 20 minutes, letting anyone in hearing range know what she was doing and warning them not to touch. NOTHING is more enticing to a three year old than the words "don't touch" so she spent another 20 minutes reclaiming her egg from her friends.

I guess my point here is that children are VERY literal and mine are demonstrably so. However, watching her be so careful and loving with that plastic egg made me happy. It might even be worth the inevitable embarrassment of her asking strangers to point out their eggs.

Would you Like some hot tea?

The closer to 4 Lena gets, the sweeter she becomes. This is good because Pilar has 4 teeth coming in and is a royal pain right now. However, she did FINALLY sleep through the night without nursing. She woke up a couple times whining, but Jason was able to take care of it. YAY!!! Now if Lena would just consistently poop in the potty, I'd be a happy girl.

This weekend was the first nice weather we've had this spring. We spent the weekend out and about with the rest of Portland. We visited three parks altogether and Lena attempted to play tag, catch, or badminton with random families. On Sunday, she scored some cake at at 2 year old's birthday party. She is a child after my sister's own heart. (Gina routinely scored pizza and happy meals at other people's picnics when we were kids.)

Otherwise, I've been busy preparing crocheted foods for the upcoming fundraiser, although I have not forgotten other projects. (I'm working on your stuff Elizabeth :)

Lena is now up from her nap and in a good mood, so we're going to have a tea party. I love that hot tea.

Easter Egg Hunts

So Anyone who knows me knows I like to tell on myself. It's a defense mechanism really. I assume you'll find out anyway so I may as well control the information. That being said, I have to share, and since it's me, it will be shared with as many words as possible. You'll have to work for my embarrassment people.

The day before Easter (and the Easter flu) I took Lena, along with her grandparents, to the Alpen Rose Dairy for their annual Egg Hunt. Holy bejezus there were a lot of people there! There were age groups ranging from 3 to 11 with about 1,000 kids (I'm so not exaggerating!) per age group. Volunteers came out and spread about a ton of little chocolate eggs across the field. Since Lena was in the 3 year old group, I was allowed to "hunt" with her. Some of the eggs had little orange tags that could be turned in for prizes afterward. I sort of knew this, but paid no mind since it's about Lena having fun and she really doesn't need anymore crap anyway. Once they blew the whistle we all ran out to pick up eggs. Supposedly the best strategy is to run to the middle since everyone stops to pick up the eggs nearest the start. This would have been a great idea, except we couldn't get through the throng of children and parents on the ground, so like the people in front of us, we hunted where we stood. I think Lena had fun. She picked up a little slowly at first, but did alright. She was done before most of the others and stood in the field eating the eggs she happened to find. I picked up a couple more for her and we headed back. She got 2 orange tags, so we headed over to turn them in. In line, most of the parents had a big handful of tag eggs, with pretty cool prizes for a free egg hunt. I learned, as I stood there, that many of the parents had left their child who was slowly hunting eggs, to run ahead and pick up all the orange tags they could find, thereby making sure their kids had the most toys and the kids who came after had none. Generally, I'm not that competitive, and I know Lena enjoyed herself, but I was so angry at those parents! My daughter, who hunted like a 3 year old, got only a yellow plastic egg full of jellybeans and a coupon for Sharis, because selfish parents cheated and picked up their kid's prizes. Even though she certainly doesn't need it, it would have been nice if she got to go home with a stuffed bunny or a princess wand, especially since other kids went home with six.I don't know, maybe I'm wrong to even care about it, and I doubt Lena cared at all, but still...

So on the the embarrassing part.....Along with the egg hunt for kids, there is one for moms. Not parents, just moms. Like the kids hunt there are also orange tagged eggs with prizes like haircuts, massages and two sets of diamond earrings. I had not planned on hunting and I kept dithering about it. In the end I figured "what the hell" and participated. This was a stupid idea. I'm pretty sure the moms who took all the orange tagged eggs for their kids were the only ones on the field. It took less than 30 seconds once the whistle blew and only half that time for me to realize a few things: 1) I cannot run fast, 2) I hate trying to run fast, 3)If you think you see an egg in the grass DO NOT bend over to pick it up, you will be knocked down, 4) diamond earrings are not worth this crap. So in the end, I learned that "egg hunts" designed to make you humiliate yourself, will make you humiliate yourself. I did get a chocolate egg though. At least there's that.

new pics, etc.

So it's the middle of the night, Pilar just went to sleep, and I'm TIRED. But I wanted to let you know there is new, very short video up on vimeo.
http://www.vimeo.com/847743
Lena at the Alpen Rose Dairy Easter egg hunt. Due to faulty batteries, we got very few Easter pics this year. I'm hoping my bro-in-laws got a few....The few we did manage are up on flickr.