Message for Brent

Hey Brent!!
I've tried to send you an email but it bounced. Jackie is trying to email you too. Send us both an email so we can talk to you not through a blog.

Kung Fu Lena

There are 2 new videos on vimeo. I'm also posting one here to see if it works. Let me know if there are any problems.( Like automatically playing when the page uploads. I hate that.)
Lena watched a cartoon where furry forest creatures used kung fu and fans to battle evil ninja monkeys on stilts. This is her interpretation. Her Kung Fu is strong.

Shhh...Daddy's napping

Here is what my children do when they are inside with limited adult supervision....

Father's Day

I hope everyone had a happy father's day. We spent a beautiful day at Cooper Mountain Winery. The good weather is finally here and we've been enjoying it as much as possible. Jason's youngest brother, Peter, is visiting for a few days, so we've been hanging out. He lives in Eugene, so the girls don't get to see him as often as they would like. They (Jason, Peter, Lena and Pilar) spent yesterday trying to find some wind to fly a kite. They were somewhat successful, though I think they spent most of the time playing and picking flowers at the park. Today we visited the zoo, where the girls watched penguins swim, polar bears sleep, and orangutans watch back. They ran around on the large grassy area for almost an hour. Lena, of course made friends with another little girl and they spent the hour running hand in hand, cooing over Pilar, and just being all around cute. If summer weather is anything like the last few days.....Wooo Hooo! I'm gonna love Portland in the summer. I'm so used to dreading July, what with the heat and the no air conditioning. Right now is perfect. Now, if I could only get a job.....

Horton and the Whos

Gail and I took Lena and Pilar to the movies on Monday to see Horton Hears a Who. It was hilarious! The best line in any movie I've seen all year:
"In my world everyone is a pony, and they all eat rainbows, and poop butterflies."
That's all I have to say.

kid's books

Still looking for a good genealogy book for Lena. I checked on Amazon and found these offerings. I'm thinking about picking up the first one, Me and my Family Tree. Even though the reviews weren't great, the complaints seem to be about what I don't want in a book, which is genealogy projects. Lena's just not there yet. I mostly want something to explain relationships.

Speaking of books. There is a great blog for those of you who, like me, love children's literature. Book Buds is run by a mommy friend from Claremont, Anne Boles Levy, who belonged to my awesome mommy play group until she moved to Chicago. Another friend from that group, Deborah Haar Clark, is a contributor. The reviews are succinct, honest, and often very funny. Even if you aren't in the market for yet more kid's books, her blog is a good read, if just for the commentary.

My Talented Friends

I have incredibly talented friends. I received these yesterday from my friend Clara. You can find more of her lovely work at Beadcitos Jewelry Creations. I have an interview in two weeks and plan on wearing one of these for good luck. I've had two successful (at least on my part) craft trades recently. I really need to hurry up and open my etsy store soon. I just need to take some pictures in good lighting.

My talented daughter

Pilar fit an entire soy bean up her nose. AN ENTIRE SOY BEAN!! It was bigger than her nostril. It took me an hour and a half to get it out.

Who's Your Daddy?

Lena is currently trying to figure out her family tree. For the last 2 weeks we've been getting a lot of questions about who is whose mommy, which of the many children she loves are her cousins, and most importantly, how is it that I am both her mommy and Pilar's mommy. I think part of the reason for the questions is her California grandparents will be visiting in June and I am VERY excited and she's heard me talking about it to Jason. Oddly, she seems to understand the concept of two sets of grandparents (she often calls my parents her great grandma and great grandpa), but the whole 'your mommy is also Pilar's mommy' is totally blowing her mind. She had a tiny freak out yesterday about it. She kept yelling, "you are not Pilar's mommy you're MY mommy!" I'm letting it ride for now, since sooner or later she'll figure it out. The funniest part of all this is her theories of who begat whom. She has informed me several times that when she grows up she will be my mommy, grandma's mommy, and/or Pilar's mommy. Jason has been explaining that to be a mommy she has to create a whole new person, but that explanation has been rejected. I'm thinking there should be a children's book about this somewhere (there are children's books about pretty much everything) so I'm on a search. Any suggestions?