Super Bowl Sundae

I'll be honest, sports aren't for me.  When I accompany my basketball/soccer/baseball/collegiate women's bowling-loving husband to sporting events, my focus is "What am I going to eat?"  Eating churros is how I support the team.

Since the "Big Game" is this weekend, I'm already planning what I'll be eating.  The answer is ice cream!  My husband and I are having simultaneous parties this Sunday.  He'll be watching football, and I'll be throwing an ice cream social.  It's a tie!  Everyone wins!

Do you have any favorite game-time snacks?

Talking to My Children about Dominic

5 years...it's been such a long time.  5 years ago, our world fell apart with the sudden loss of my nephew, Dominic.  He had been sick with a barrage of normal kid things, but the one that took his life was unknown to all.  Dominic had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, an extremely aggressive form of cancer.  The heart-wrenching part was not being able to say goodbye to him; however, there is solace in knowing that his last days were spent frolicking happily through the snow with his buddies.

Dominic was an incredible human being.  He was so caring and thoughtful.  He loved, loved, loved stuffed animals, even at ten.  He was creative and incredibly intelligent.  The last time I saw him was Christmas, and he had received a kit to make your own sock monkey-type creature.  I wish I had made it with him. 

Georgia was three months old when Dominic died. They had only met on that Christmas trip (my sister and her family live in Maryland).  Georgia, of course, didn't remember that holiday or the trip cross-country for his funeral.  Harper, the younger of my children, wasn't even born.  It broke my heart to know that they missed out on getting to know how amazing their cousin was. I was determined that they knew about him, which meant they needed to know that he was gone.

Dom had been reading Each Little Bird That Sings when he died, a book ironically about a young girl who deals with death regularly as her family runs the town's mortuary. I read it to my class of 4th graders each January. When my girls are older, I'll read it to them, too. 

I feel it's important for our children to know that death is real, but not in a scary zombies are going to attack way.   It happens, and we grieve and then, when we're ready, we go on living.  Living is different without Dominic, but that's to be expected.

Part of my going on living after Dominic was to keep in our hearts and our conversations.  We talk about him whenever the Beatles come on, when we find giraffe stuffed animals, when there's a pretty bird, or when we replace the toilet paper roll.

I know the picture is inappropriate, but a donkey using a urinal? C'mon, that's funny. It makes me happy to share Dominic with my girls.  I'd love to share him with you also at DominicZahlis.com.

The Backyard: Before & After???

Our next door neighbor asked the man who flipped our house why he wasn't going to do anything about the backyard.  His response was that backyards are very personal and everybody has their own idea about what they want.  What we wanted was grass, lots and lots of grass.

                                              

The yard started out as weed/dirt/trash pit.  Seriously, how old is that milk carton?  The girls would go and "explore" and find shards of glass and other such treasures.  

The yard is super long (83 feet, according to our measurements) and skinny.  Originally, we had two unidentified shrubs and two avocado trees.  Yum, right?  Can you imagine the amount of guacamole I could make with two avocado trees?  I just need a lime tree, and I've got a fiesta!

The gardener who was going to install sprinklers delivered some heart-crushing news.  If we wanted grass for half of the yard, this avocado tree had to go.  No grass could grow with the incredible amount of shade it provided.  I was consoled by the fact that I still got to keep one tree.

So out came the tree and away went the garbage.  Except to Georgia, it wasn't garbage.  To my sweet five-year-old it was her "grotto" and the sticks that disappeared were her "stick family."

After seeing the backyard devastation, she laid on the floor in the fetal position and said, "This is how you destroy a home."  Wow!  Totally harsh.  I promised that she would love having a place to play, that we would go hunt for new sticks, and the original stick family had gone to build homes for small woodland creatures.

One week later, the grass came in.  We were out of town when the sod was laid, so it was such a fun surprise to come home and see green for miles and miles.  Okay, feet and feet.  

Now, we've got a totally prepped blank slate.  Our goals for the backyard:

• Replace the Frankenstein fence
• Make a new and improved "grotto"
• Incorporate a fun place for grown-ups to read and drink coffee

We're not quite sure what the grotto should include.  A play house?  A rock wall?  A chicken coop?  Please don't vote for chicken coop unless there are magical chickens that lay Cadbury Creme Eggs.  Do you have a backyard play structure or other favorite feature?  I'd love to hear what we need! 

Mommy Doesn't Play Doctor

One component of being a mom that I'm not comfortable with is playing doctor.  Nurse, yes.  Doctor, no.  I can comfort and soothe, clean up bodily fluids, or turn on another Disney movie with no problem.  What I can't do is diagnose.

Croup again?!?!

I am very comfortable yielding to the professionals.  I, of course, want to have a voice in the medical treatment of my children.  However, I am becoming so disappointed by my increasing role as medical diagnostician.

My girls have been sick a lot the past few months.  Ear infections, the flu, croup, countless cases of sniffles...the list goes on and on.  We don't rush to the pediatrician for every bump or bruise, but with such an expansive assortment of ails recently we have seen the good doctor a bunch.  Each time I go I get asked things like, "Do you want to do a strep test?"  If there's a chance she has it, yes.  I elected to torture Georgia with a blood test for mono after weeks and weeks of not improving.  I never thought mono was a possibility until it was brought up, but then I was asked to make the call.

Here's how I'd like the visits to the pediatrician to go...
Me: I'm concerned about fill in symptoms.
The Doctor:  I think the cause may be fill in possibilities and I'd like to do the following tests: some stuff I saw on House.  Do you have any questions or concerns?
Me: Nope, awesome.

Ask me what my children had for dinner the past month, and I can tell you.  But I just want a doctor to tell me what my sick children need to get better...and I'll even pay you!  Okay well, my insurance will pay you.  Is that really so much to ask?

Although I like the pediatrician a great deal personally, I'm contemplating finding someone new.  Is this a common experience, or am I expecting too much?

Top Celebrations of 2012

As the year winds down, it's a time for reflection on the past year.  I thought I'd share with you our family's best celebrations from 2012.

1.  Jori's Open Heart Surgery
Surgery as a celebration?  Well, there was an evite that went out.  Why it qualifies is it means that my sister is healthy.  That makes it the best day out of the whole year.

Jori had a congenital heart defect that went undiagnosed until this year.  The catalyst for her seeking medical help was running in the Disney 1/2 marathon with other members of our family.  We are so incredibly grateful that Jori's doctors took the time to do all of the tests to correctly diagnose her.  I mean, she's such a rock star that even with a mis-wired heart she could pass the stress test at the hospital.

2.  Moving Day
If you've been following along, you already know that less than a month ago we moved into our first house.  It's been an busy time for us, but we are getting settled in.  We knew the moment we first stepped in the front door that this was our home.  It just feels right, just feels like us.

3.  Matt's Graduation/Job Hunt
Matt had gone back to college and in 2012 he graduated with a degree in philosophy.  Starting from scratch, he had four years to complete.  There were semesters of 20+ units and lulls when the California education budget cuts prevented him from taking any classes at all.  Watching him walk at his graduation was a great moment for us to appreciate his dedication to improving his/our future.

 After the graduation ceremony, we had a fiesta!  So much fun!  Infused tequila, cactus decorations, and awesome prayer candles were just some of the features.  You can check out more of the party here.

We had mentally prepared ourselves for a long job hunt.  The unemployment rate news wasn't promising and considering he hadn't worked in four years would make it challenging to find a suitable position.  Fortunately, that wasn't the case.  His graduation was on a Saturday, and on Monday he interviewed for a job.  The position is at Cal State Fullerton, from where he had just graduated.

4.  Celebrating Mom's 70th Birthday
I adore my sisters, but with us living on both sides of the county it can be a challenge to get to spend any real time together.  That's why celebrating Mom's 70th birthday together was such a special event.  We went to Temecula, CA to hit up some wineries and spend some time together.

5.  Getting Ready for Lyla

2013 is bringing a new baby girl into our world.  We got to celebrate the momma-to-be with a super fun gender reveal party and a baby shower.  The happy parents filled black balloons.  Party guests stomped and stomped, trying to find the balloon holding the results.  Go Team Pink!

We can't wait to meet her and include baby Lyla into the parties for 2013!

6.  Harper's Birthday/4th of July

Harper was born on the 4th of July.  Since a lot of our family and friends are out of town for the holiday, we decided to have her party the weekend before.  At the suggestion of her aunt Honey, Harper had a "Rainbow Unicorn" birthday.  Here's the party overview.  I put everyone to work for this one, and am so grateful my their hard work.  I adored all of the felt crafts, like the hobby horse unicorns and personalized gold medals.

Of course, we couldn't let her actual birthday go unrecognized.  So we made reservations at Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel.  The buffet-style restaurant hosts a variety of characters who visit diners at their tables.  The birthday girl (and big sister) were so enchanted by Cinderella and the rest of their favorite Disney characters.

7.  Georgia's Scooby Doo Party

I said I wasn't going to go overboard for this one.  Whatever I got done was all that I could do.  Ironically, it was one of my favorite parties yet.  The birthday girl loooooves Scooby Doo.  I lucked out on decorations since Halloween is the same month as her birthday.  

The kiddos solved a case involving a disappearing cake, made Shrinky Dink dog tags, took photos in the Mystery Machine, and snacked on dogbone-shaped treats.  

It's been such a busy and exciting year.  I can't wait to see what's in store for 2013!

House Update: Before & Extended Before

We've been in our new house for two weeks now.  Two weeks sounds like so much time, but we've just scratched the surface of moving in and making it ours.

The difference between our experience and what I would assume is the norm is that we're starting from scratch.  We had sold most of our furniture and, other than bedroom furniture, we needed everything.  When you add in we were superstitious about purchasing anything prior to getting the keys, our wallets have gotten quite a workout the past two weeks.

Realizing our house is almost 100 years old, we knew there would be issues.  We just didn't realize those issues would present themselves so immediately.  Whenever we did laundry, Matt smelled gas.  The gas company came out, inspected, and then turned off our gas.  Eek!  There were four (FOUR!!!!) different spots where the gas was leaking.  So for four days we had no hot water, dryer, or stove/oven.  It actually wasn't that bad.  My parents loaned us some space heaters and the use of their bath tub.  The laundry piled up, but when doesn't it???

Now, we're fully running with new gas pipes.  This weekend was super productive and we started putting things on the walls.  Despite the limited furnishings still keeping us in the "Before" category, things are coming together.  Delivery dates keep getting pushed back, so my girls have been camping out on the floor to watch cartoons.

I think by Christmas we'll be ready to have people come over and hang out with us.  That's good considering we're hosting Christmas Eve dinner for my husband's family!

House Update!

I'm really super duper excited to share with you a house update...you can look back and see the first post on the hunt here.  I'm skipping right over House #5.  It didn't really have a good nickname, and we got no response after our offer.  

On to House #6, Our House!

Matt, the girls, and I filled a Saturday with home viewings.  What a jackpot!  We found two properties that we really liked.  One was a condo with a ton of bedrooms and fun ammenities for the kiddos.  The next place we went to was a house literally two blocks from my parents' house and directly across the street from my mother's childhood home.

As cliche' as it sounds, it more than any other place felt like us.  It's quirky and fun and eclectic and adorable!  The house was built in 1919 (yes, I've already started planning the house's 100th birthday party).  The sweet little house has had a few upgrades in the past century though.  

The house features a finished attic, which you access from the second bedroom.  It's going to be such a fun space for the little girls.  Georgia's already planning sleepovers for her friends.  

Another fun benefit of the house is an un-attached bonus room.  It's going to be such a great space for hanging out during the warm California summer...or the warm California fall, winter, or spring.

We knew immediately that we needed to live in this house.  If the seller didn't accept our offer, not only would we be heart-broken, but I might have had to break in and steal the chandeliers.  It really was in both of our best interests that he accepted, and he did!

Nothing about the escrow process is a breeze.  Even with pre-approvals, there's always more paperwork to submit, more phone calls to make, more more more.  This is the first month ever that I've been notified that we were in danger of exceeding our cell phone minutes.  Not the final push of wedding planning, the arrival of our children, nothing has required as much time on the telephone.  Thankfully, Matt did most of it!

We are now less than two weeks away from moving day.  Expect tons of pictures of the house, my projects to turn it into our house, and my family living within it!