Disneyland!

We met Mark's cousins at Disneyland on Sunday. Mark's cousin JP has a two year old named Jack and he's so cute! (there's a link on the sidebar to their blog)

Marlo had so much fun. She was over her stroller and wanted to walk the whole time (the only problem with that it that it was raining and her shoes and pants were soaked). A few rides were kind of scary for her, but she went on Pirates of the Caribbean like a grownup!

Disneyland is even better when you have a child and you get to see it through their eyes...






Marlo was such a trooper...partied right through her nap. She was asleep in her carseat before we even got out of the parking lot.

We can't wait to go back.

We rode the carousel 3 times

Marlo and Jack would have stayed on it all day.

Before Christmas pictures

I had these done and I wanted to give them as gifts, but they weren't ready in time. The scans aren't very good, but I love these because Marlo is so very Marlo in them.
It wasn't my intention to have her pose with a snowflake or the rocking horse, but she helped herself to the props.

The clown's new best friend

we went to a birthday party on Saturday and Marlo couldn't get enough of the balloon animals.

21 months old

Marlo is growing up so fast! She is talking all the time, saying the funniest things. She plays pretend with her toys and dolls, putting them "ni-night" and telling me when her baby cries.

She loves music, singing and dancing. She's always pretending to play the trumpet or flute or drums.

My favorite thing about her is how hard she tries. It's a lot of work for that little body to jump, or do the hokey-pokey, or fit in the pieces of a puzzle. When she doesn't get it right she just tries again, never giving up. And she's so proud of herself when she gets it right.

I'm proud of her regardless.

New park

We found a new park the other day. Marlo promptly fell down on the play structure and got a big goose egg on her forehead. But she loved the horses.

Making wishes...

Open to suggestions...

I tried to make pancakes this morning. They're always hit or miss for me. I just used a mix and did them in a nonstick skillet with no butter or anything. They came out all bubbly-looking, not smooth and golden brown.
Does anyone have a good recipe or technique?
And while I'm at it, I've never made decent Spanish rice. No matter how much stuff I put in, it tastes like nothing. If you've got a good recipe, let me know.

Exploring...

A few of us from playgroup met today for a sensory exploration activity. A woman brought all kinds of things for the kids: balls, things to jump, spin and roll around on, bubbles, tunnels to crawl through, and different safe-to-eat creations that they could get messy with.
Marlo took messy and ran with it. Her clothes were actually crusty when we were done, but she had so much fun.

What happened to winter?

It's been 75 degrees here for the past few days! I don't mean to complain, I know it's sunny southern California and everything, but I wasn't ready to let winter go quite yet.
Here's our Valentine's tree (had to justify buying at least one of the trees I bought at the after Christmas sales)

Our busy girl

Lately

Marlo is just killing me with all the things she says. Especially when she first wakes up in the morning. She'll talk about things from days before...makes me wonder what she was dreaming.

She just talks and talks, putting things together:

"Thank you, Mommy."
"There you go, Mommy."
"Daddy work."
"Ni-night, sleep."
"Broken leaf." (after crumbling it herself)
"Broken tree." (seeing the needles on the ground)
"Look! Look! Cars!" (when we're driving)

Today she pulled open the freezer door (after weeks of trying) and shouted, "Cream! Cream!"

See, they share!

Those are Estee's rollerskates. Look how excited she is to help her cousin.

did you know that...

• Elvis sang eighteen different songs with the word "blue" in the title?
• he's the only performer inducted into all four music halls of fame (Rock and Roll, Country, Rockabilly and Gospel)?
• his Aloha from Hawaii special was the first satellite television broadcast?

Although that special, as well as the '68 Comeback Special, are both spectacular, my absolute favorite is the Live at Madison Square Garden show from I think 1971.

And my favorite songs at the moment are: From a Jack to a King, Mess of Blues, Fool Such as I, and White Christmas. I wish he would just sing that "I-I-I-I'm dreaming....of a white Christma-as.." oh so softly onto my neck.

I know, I know. He may disgust a lot of people. And I even know stories. Stories that my mother-in-law told me about him and someone she knows. Stories that would break your heart.

But just look at him. That photo is from Stay Away Joe, (one of his 31 films). He plays Joe Lightcloud, a Navajo trying to raise cattle on a reservation. Of course.

Steve Binder, director of the '68 Comeback Special said it best:

"I'm straight as an arrow, and I've got to tell you, you stop, whether you're male or female, to look at him. He was that good looking. And if you never knew he was a superstar, it wouldn't make any difference; if he'd walked in the room, you'd know somebody special was in your presence."

Happy Birthday, Big Fella. Thankyouverymuch.

The last day I saw my sister...

Amy and Josh came over yesterday for dinner and then stayed the night. They left this morning to do the last bit of cleaning at their house. Then they leave early tomorrow morning for Texas. They're going to drive about ten hours, get a hotel, then wake up and drive another ten hours, get another hotel, and then wake up and drive about 5 hours and be in Austin.

That's how far away it is.

When we hugged goodbye this morning, I tried to pretend it was our normal parting and that I'd see her in a few days. Because I don't want her to be sad, I don't want her to go with this big cloud of sadness following her. I want her to be happy and hopeful for what lies ahead of her because it will be challenging enough to start over in a new place.

As much as I'd like her to be by my side forever, I want what's best for her and Josh. I just can't stop thinking about the distance. All of our time together now will be monumental, with planning and packing and planes. And I don't even know when I'll see her next.

And don't even get me started on when she has kids. Not being there through her whole pregnancy, to watch her belly grow? Hoping to make it to the delivery room in time? And birthdays, and holidays...will they just be phone calls?

These are the things that keep me up at night, the constant lump in my throat. They are all a bunch of what-ifs, of what I'm afraid might happen. And I know how selfish this all sounds, believe me. I know that Amy's move to Texas is much bigger than all of this, and that it really doesn't have anything to do with me. She will always be my sister.

She'll just be my sister in Texas.

These two...

sure do love each other! Granted, they're still learning to share. But they are so cute together. Marlo wants to do everything just like Estee, and Estee wants to do things just to make Marlo laugh.
We are missing her...

Happy New Year!

I stayed home all day, cleaning up and taking the ornaments off the tree. Mark went to the Rose Bowl and had a great time.

Last night we went to Legoland for their celebration, which includes fireworks and a giant Lego dropping at 6, in time for kids to go to bed. We were only there for a few hours, but I can't wait to go back because it was amazing!




There are mini replicas of everything. Here's the Vegas strip:

And New Orleans:

I know it's bad to kiss another man in front of my child, but it was Elvis, and it was at Mark's suggestion:

3 out of a 100

that didn't really turn out, but that's what happens at this age. I love Sabrina for really trying.



A story about Sabrina that I've told some of you:

She saw a poster up in her neighborhood for a lost cat. So she wrote a letter to the owner saying she was sorry and that she'd pray for her cat to come home.

Sabrina received a letter back from the owner saying that the cat did come home, and to thank her, the woman gave her a gift card for Wal Mart.

It doesn't sound so significant when I type it, but it's a great example of human kindness, the thoughtfulness in both my 7-year old niece and her neighbor, and the power of prayer.