Carnival

The kids school had their yearly Spring Carnival yesterday.  Since I am the Room Parent (by default, I called the coordinator back to say 'no thanks, I did it last year' but when she sounded so grateful and said I was the only one to call her back, I of course said I was 'so happy' to do it) I got to man a booth for 5 hours.  It actually worked out well to sit in the shade while the kids ran around like maniacs.

Every time I turned around my kids were stuffing their face with some form of sugar.

All together now.  Emry, Ethan & Lila.

Ethan was so proud he won this on his first try at the ring toss.

I cannot believe how tall Emry is, she's 11!  I am wearing clog type shoes, so really she is almost as tall as me.  She is only 2 years older than Lila but seems much older.  Lila is 2 1/2 years older than Ethan but I am sure he will outgrow her any day now.

This picture almost didn't happen.  I asked a teenage boy to take it, and he couldn't seem to find the button.  My kids dispersed thinking the pic was done.  When I realized no picture was taken I asked my dad later to take one of us all.  Since he is half blind (maybe it was the sun) he cut us off.  Finally on about the 10the take we got one.  Family pictures are not an easy thing to do.  At the carnival  even worse because the kids are just chomping at the bit to go play.

My sister Jeannette showed up with her 2 kids.  Nathan is is 2nd grade and Kiera will start Kindergarten in the fall.  Her 14 yr. old Kylee was with friends.

My parents.  My mom spoiled the kids with tickets.  I bought $20 worth of tickets for my 3 and after they had run out I told them to just wait until Grandma & Grandpa arrived, surely no Grandparents in their right mind could say no to 3 kids whining & begging for carnival tickets.

Lunch Hoarder in the house.

Too cute right?  I shouldn't even talk about Ethan because I am way too in love with the kid.   But about 4 hours after this picture was taken his dad wanted to strangle him.  To preface - sleep over the night before staying up way too late with Nathan, up early for maximum play time, carnival fun in the sun for 3 hours, lots of sugar. 

Glenn left the carnival early to watch the best little baseball player in the world do his thing.  Well, his thing as it turned out included laying down in the outfield, letting balls go right by him, being crabby, moody, tired and unreasonable.  Glenn came home extremely embarrassed and unhappy.  Kids are not for the faint of heart that's for sure.

My kids like to rub it in my face when they have soda.  Emry comes sauntering over just daring me to say anything.  Naughty girl.

Glenn and Ryan.  A match made in surfing, texting & grabbing a burrito heaven.

Kiera climbing the rock wall in her princess dress.  Jeannette was so proud because a few of our friends kids were climbing the same time as her and they (boys) didn't even make it halfway up.  Kiera gets strapped in and scales that wall all princified like it was nothing.

Oh, she's drinking water, hallelujah!

Apples and sunflower butter.  Heaven forbid I have some nachos or something.

These are my friend Rachel's 3 (out of 4) boys.  As much as I cringe at mass sugar consumption, there is just something so cute about kids and cotton candy.

Our Spin-N-Win booth.  So nice to leave the girls in charge when my friends stopped by to chat.

Normal kids could just be happy with the fun day.  Wallwork kids like to bring some of the carnival back home.

Have fun while it last kids.  I am not sure how many days I can stand looking at this fabulosity.

May I have your attention?

Emry was born a natural learner.  Ethan is so in love with school that he literally can't wait to go every morning.  Lila likes wearing cute clothes and seeing her friends & packing cookies in her lunch, but as far as school work goes, it's a little trying.

I wanted Emry to know how proud we were of all her 100% papers so I put some on the fridge.  I think Lila was feeling a bit left out because a few days ago I came into the kitchen to find about a half dozen papers all stuck on the fridge.  I think one was 100% and the rest were -1 or -2.

Lila was proud and she should be.  She tried her best.   

My heart swelled a little as I thought of my girl who struggles.  Who cries over homework.  Who gets frustrated and spends more time doing homework than her siblings.

I see you Lila.  I love you.  I know you are putting forth effort and your dad & I are proud of you.  You're my full time job & I take it very seriously.  You will not fail.

Plus you're so darn cute.  That's gotta count for something.

Food Pushers

Living in Argentina Glenn had many dinners where food was thrust upon him like it was his last meal.  Those Latin women aren't satisfied until you have to be rolled away from the table.  Be it meat that still had hair on it or gnocchi's covered with bottled ketchup, he ate it all.  After all, these people were dirt poor (their floors were literally dirt) so passing up their generous offering of food was not an option.

Glenn is hilarious when telling about the gnocchi dinner.  He says he finally managed to get a plate down only to have the host come fill it up again.  As he was trying to get through the second plate he was sweating profusely on the verge of vomiting.  But the trooper he is he got it down.

He's never had gnocchi's since.

I am not a food pusher.   I pride myself on being the exact opposite because I don't like food being pushed on me.  I always have plenty of food at gatherings and make sure people know they're welcome to as much as they'd like, but then I leave it at that.

Being a health nut I get plenty of comments on what I eat.  Sometimes I love it, sometimes I feel uncomfortable when I feel like every bite I take is being noted and commented upon.  There's always a weird silence when you're with a group who wants to stop at a fast food joint and you tell them you're just going to run across the street and pick up your lunch at the grocery store, or what happens more often is I have a lunch I just whip out of my purse and then I am just the weirdo food hoarder bag lady 

I  don't want to make anyone feel they've made bad food choices, the truth of the matter is I love food & eating way too much to even have one bad experience.  I want all of my meals to be filled with fresh produce, roasted nuts, legumes, wheatberries, strong cheese, whole grains with some dark chocolate on the side, is that too much to ask?

So in the spirit of being a non food pusher, cupcakes are the perfect dessert.  With cake or pie you as the host have to ask if they'd like a slice and then get all fancy with a plate and fork.  With cupcakes there is zero confrontation.  You serve them up all pretty and if people want one they'll grab it.  No awkward moments when you're trying to ask the server for just a sliver of cake (which always seems rude), really just about 3 bites worth, the amount you would steal off your husbands plate and he in turn would get mad at you because you said you didn't want any.  It may have taken my husband many years but if I say "No thank you" to dessert he is well aware he needs to get a bigger portion.  Glenn's brilliant like that.

So if you're at my house I'll probably offer you freshly ground oatmeal, a smoothie, vegetable soup, sprouted cookies, whole wheat banana bread or homemade granola.  If you say no thanks I will question your dietary choices but I'll also offer you mac & cheese.  Cause guess what, I've got that too.

ilove

 I checked out this book on a whim at the library for Glenn, why would I want to read a whole book centered around technology?  The day came when our books were due, I took our green library bag full of books and packed them in the car along with Lila, Ethan, my niece Kiera and nephew Nathan.

First stop, the Children's Museum in Old Town Temecula.  The kids never tire of this museum, it's a charming little building full of Temecula history and fun for the kids.

While there I started thumbing through the Steve Jobs book and an hour later when it was time to go I was in too deep to return it.  I couldn't renew because it was 'New' so I just threw caution to the wind and brought it home with me.

I don't know a thing about technology, but I could so relate to Jobs quest and lifelong passion for health (he went through periods as a vegan & fruitarian and even tried to heal his cancer through diet), spirituality (he traveled to India to find a guru) and making the world a better place.

I grew up in San Jose as did Glenn.  Naturally Glenn graduated with a degree in Business MIS and went on to work for Cisco Systems for 10 years because that's just what you do in Silicon Valley.   It was interesting to read about all the places in the book that were part of my world as well.

Steve Jobs had a passion that came through every page of the book, at times I myself felt exhausted.  He didn't set out to make people slaves to their ipads, what he wanted was to dream, create and accomplish, he mainly left the tech side of things to "Woz".

When you realize how important simplicity and aesthetics were to him, how he'd personally fly across the country and wait 6 months for the perfect glass for the iphone, you fall under his spell of how driven and focused he was.

Again & again in the book it talks about his "distortion reality", how he saw the world differently and expected from people what others didn't.

Basically he was a genius who cared so much about everything he made and every aspect from the product to packaging to where it was sold, which is why the Apple stores were created.  He was controlling and wanted to be in charge of your whole Apple experience.

He was adopted and never met his biological Father, he never wanted to.  He was strong willed and told the Dean at his college that he wouldn't be paying for classes because he had already spent enough of his parents money, but he would be dropping in on whatever classes intrigued him.  He never did graduate from college, he was much too antsy for that.

Realizing what his plans for the future were I am truly sad.  Sad that he won't continue to change and advance the world.  That his visions may not come to fruition.  Sad for his family.

I may not know anything about technology but I know everything about thinking differently and so did Steve Jobs.  He didn't care that others saw him as crazy or didn't believe in him.  He didn't care when he was told his visions were impossible or couldn't be done.

I am weird.  I've never fit the mold.  I am passionate and my inability to shut up has gotten me in trouble a time or two.  Most people can't relate to my strict religious beliefs, my 'hippie' ways or crazy food. 

So yeah, I can strangely enough relate to Steve Jobs, aside from the genius part I know what it's like to be different.  Fortunately I am Ok with it.


Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.  -Apple

Down & Dirty

I can't believe it but I went camping.  I don't like camping.  At all.  How ever was Glenn able to convince me?  He said, "I booked us a site Wednesday night to go camping, you don't have to come".   

Oh, did I mention we were a stone's throw from the beach?   Really, is there any other reason to camp?
My niece Kylee, my sister Jeannette & my spunky 11 year old Emry.

Ethan is getting really good at skim boarding.

Especially when he has these older boys to impress.  They were really good & I could see Ethan watching them and then trying to show off for them.  It was all very sweet.

Talking to the lifeguards about the currents.

Note to self - living out of your car is no fun.
 

 
But living out of a tent isn't much better.  We had to borrow EVERYTHING.  I am not even sure Glenn & I own a flashlight.

Brutus was wondering when we could go home to our soft beds.  You & me both Brutus.

I am so lazy I couldn't even manage to do foil dinners.  I didn't want to keep track of the kids meals so I just poured everything into a big pot and let them pick out what they wanted.

Ethan & Nathan wanted to stay forever, they were completely in their element.  Lila is more like me and said she missed feeling clean.

The Wallworks    Lila didn't bring a jacket (was that my job?) so I told her to makeshift one out of her pajamas just tying the feet around her waist, worked like a charm.

The Roberts    This pic reminds me of being a teen and how it's imperative to your livelihood to be a walking advertisement.

My heart is breaking it's just too cute this whole father & son thing and Glenn is so ridiculously handsome.  Ethan, please grow up to be exactly like your dad.   Just without the fascination for MMA fighting okay?

The sun goes down and all the skater boys come out to party.

Lila with her squirrel trap and the dollar she earned from Glenn for catching a squirrel.  I am pretty certain she didn't catch a squirrel, but letting a 9 year old live in denial never hurt anyone.  And this is what mom's who don't camp dress their kids in.  Clearly I know exactly what I am doing.

The Roberts looking Good!
 

Good bye and good riddance to this fire that blew ash EVERYWHERE!  If I want a real fire I'll just flip on the switch to my gas fireplace at home.

Good bye roughin' it, I hate you.