Mother - daughter

My sweet little girl seems so grown up lately.  I cannot believe she starts kindergarten in the Fall!  We're wearing our matching dresses (mine is Weston Wear from Anthropologie and I made Penelope's).  I'm so glad have another daughter to pass it too.  I grow a little attached to each piece I make!

Little Girls

Diane von Furstenberg's exclusive collection for Gap kids launched today.  In a video describing the collection she says "A little girl; the minute she is born, she is already the woman she will be - so to empower a little girl, is to empower to the woman she will become"

I just love that.  It makes me realize something I probably already knew, but often forget.  I hope that one of the things I accomplish as a mother is just that...to nurture and celebrate my girls own unique little souls.

Time Flies

I'm been wanting to write a new post for a long time, but struggling to find the will to do so.  It reminds me of being  apart from a really good friend for a while - the longer it's been, the more you have to say, yet the harder it is (for me at least) to pick up the phone and make the call.  Once you finally do, you both are so glad and you can catch up and reconnect without skipping a beat.

Where has the time gone?  Jiffer and I were discussing our future (this summer in particular) and realized last night that we only have 4 more months until our current lease is up.  That will mark 2 years of being in California.  Whoa.  How did that happen?  It's a bizarre thing, because so there were so many times last year where time seemed to creep by at a snail's pace, but lately it all seems like a blur.

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We had a great time over the holiday break.  Visited friends and family in Colorado and Missouri.  Always a challenge to see so many people and have quality time them, but we keep on trying.  One of the highlights of our trip was seeing Penelope learn how to ski.  She had a great time and little or no fear.  She was so proud being able to ride the chair because she could now turn and stop.

 

Jiffer's been super busy this quarter with school and travel.  He's learning a lot and enjoying the work, but just wishes there were more hours in the day.

My best excuse for the lack of blogging is my school.  I started classes at a Fashion Design school at Apparel Arts in San Francisco in the fall and have been extremely busy doing that on top of being a mom, wife and dog owner.  I've said many days how I should probably quit because it's so time consuming.  But every time I drive to the city and get there, I change my mind.  I love San Francisco.  It's such an amazing city.  And I've hardly scratched the surface.

I'll finish here with a few pictures from the last couple of months...

 China Beach in SF

 Golden Gate Bridge

 Santa Cruz Boardwalk

 Bay Bridge

Good times in Colorado

We went to Colorado back to back in September and October for weddings.  It was great to see so many old friends and family.  

Penelope is so deeply in love with Wendy & Mike's dog Darla that she's been asking to Skype with her for weeks.  Today we finally did.  Only we mostly Skyped with Wendy and Maddoc.  Darla was busy taking a nap while soaking in some sun rays.

Savor the moment

Sometimes we all tell each other what the best part(s) of our day was when we put the girls to bed.  Today was an easy one for me.  The best part of my day was walking Penelope to school this afternoon.  She and I were holding hands and Amelia was riding in her push car singing songs (Twinkle Twinkle, and other lullabies).  Penelope was giddy with excitement at the prospect of rain this afternoon at school (she was fully outfitted with her rain boots, rain coat and umbrella).  She looked up at me at smiled a big smile every minute or so and a couple of times told me how much she liked Amelia's singing (which is rare as they are usually sharing or competing for the stage).  I told her I liked it too.  It was a perfect mommy moment.  I wish I could capture a moment like this and put in in a jar and save it for later.  When I need to remember a beautiful memory to lift me up or in many many years from now when my memory has faded.

Penelope got her rain.  It started raining during pre-school and hasn't stopped since.  She had great puddles to splash in as we walked home from school.  It's good to be a kid.  

Photo Shoot

One day in August the girls and I met our friends for a play date in Union Square in SF.  It wasn't the most successful playdate...okay, I'll be honest and say that it was an absolutely exhausting undertaking.  We started out the morning with people watching & coffee drinking while the girls danced and played (after spilling hot chocolate all down their new dresses that I had finished the night before).  Then we popped into a 3 story Williams-Sonoma and then went onto the Cheesecake Factory for lunch.  Normally, my girls do really well at restaurants.  But not today.  Lunch seemed to be unusually slow & went into Amelia's nap time.  Penelope was tired and emotional over some silly conflict between her and her friend.  Amelia spilled some water and broke a plate.  Within minutes of getting out of that booth at Cheesecake Factory into the fresh air, Penelope and her friend worked things out.  We listed to the last song of the band playing in Union Square & then then left.  The girls both fell asleep at some point on the way home.  I had hoped that I could just park the car in the driveway and they would stay asleep for a while.  But they're too smart for that.  They woke up about 5 minutes later cranky as can be.  I knew neither of them would go back to sleep and so I decided to grab the dog and head up to Frenchman's Lake (an old dried up lake in the beautiful Stanford neighborhood) where I've been wanting to do a photo shoot.  They didn't really want to be photographed until I promised them chocolate if they cooperated.  I pretty pleased with the pictures as I had two cranky and dirty girls.

The Doctor is In

We recently took Sadie in for her annual check-up.  We were driving home from dinner the other night (prior to her appointment) and Jiffer and I were explaining what a veterinarian was and why Sadie was going to go see one.  We told her that a veterinarian was an animal doctor.  That they treat dogs, cats, and various other animals depending on their practice and training.  At some point one of us said that a vet is a dog doctor.  Penelope asked, "A dog doctor?"  "Yes, a dog doctor".  "A dog doctor?"  "YES, A DOG DOCTOR!"  This went on and on for a few minutes.  We continued to explain that they aren't always doctors for dogs, but also cats, guinea pigs, bunnies, etc.  She kept on until Jiffer just about lost it in frustration of answering the same question 50 times until she finally said something that made me figure out what was getting her.  "So is a dog doctor just for dogs?"  I asked her if she thought Sadie's doctor was going to be a dog?  That was it.  She thought a dog doctor (i.e. veterinarian) was actually a dog.  She wanted to know if a dog doctor only treated dogs or if they treated other animals.  Once Jiffer and I figured this out, it totally melted away any frustration and made us opened our eyes to the sweet innocence and magical world of our little 4 year old.  Would a guinea pig doctor big a guinea pig?  I don't see why not.  Makes a little bit of sense, right?  Ah, I LOVE seeing through the eyes of a four year old.  Which reminds me of a fantastic quote I read again today at Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose.  I'll post that shortly.  It's a lovely quote that would serve me well as a mother to read it every day.

Sewing Spree

My sewing spree was inspired by a a class I took in sewing with knits as well as my week without Jiffer (he was in Lyons, Colorado doing an instrument building class through the Rocky Grass Academy).  One of these days, my sister-in-law, Becky & I will get our sewing blog up and running.  In the meantime, I will post them here: 

Birthday Girl!

I can't believe Amelia is 2 already.  Where does the time go?  It has been really fun to see her personality more and more.  She's definitely got some spunk like her big sister, but can be kind of laid back and will go with the flow when we need her to.  She idolizes Penelope.  She even matches the same pitch of the shriek Penelope makes when they're playing.  It's been so incredible watching the girls become playmates and best buddies.  The Gorden's join us for a very simple party for her.  Becky and I made an Elmo (one of Amelia's favorite characters) cake for her.  She loved it!  She went straight for the black icing.  Happy Birthday Amelia!  We love you!

 

 

1 year down

Jiffer's completed his first year of a two year program at Stanford University's CCRMA program.  He's done some very interesting things throughout the course of the year.  A few posts ago, I promised a link to some of his recordings from this year...you can access those at www.elcajonmusic.com.  You can check out his other work at his CCRMA website.

Way to go Jiffer!  You're such a talented and hardworking musician & engineer!

Recycling

A couple of nights ago, I took one of my favorite shirts that I bought from a boutique in Breckenridge, Colorado years ago and turned it into a dress for Amelia. Turns out the bodice of my shirt was already perfect length and silhouette for her.  I cut the dress out of the bodice and made ties from the 3/4 length sleeves.  Now Amelia has a new dress and the shirt can live on!
 

4 Years

Dear Penelope,

You never cease to amaze me.  You challenge me and open my heart & mind in ways I never imagined.  Somehow after 4 years, we still haven't figured out how to best help you go to sleep at night.  I wish I could get inside of your little mind, so I could better help you.  Sometimes we talk about things we might want to dream about.  Happy things.  Tonight when you were going to bed, you told Daddy and me that you wanted to dream about all of our friends and family from Colorado, Missouri and California getting together...and playing Ring Around the Rosy, even  the dogs (especially Darla, Wendy & Mike's dog).  I hope I always stop and smell the roses with you even when I have loads of stuff to do.  I love seeing the world through your eyes.  And while you and Amelia fight like siblings do, you can be very loving and patient with her.  She adores you.  Raising you makes me want to be a better person.  I love you.

Mommy

My kinder garden

A couple of nights ago I was putting Penelope to bed when she started asking me questions about preschool and what school she would go to when she turned 4 and 5 and so on.  I think she found it a little confusing because, although she'll turn 4 in a couple of weeks, she won't be in the '4s' preschool program until next fall / school year.  Kind of an advanced concept for a 3 or 4 year old.  Anyways, she started asking me about kindergarten.  I told her I didn't know what school she would go to and whether or it would be in California, Colorado or somewhere else.  She seemed to think we needed to move to Missouri or Colorado for kindergarten, since Mommy may not know where the kindergarten classes are in California.  I guess our experience of getting to know this place (navigating to new places and some times getting lost and doing lots of u-turns in the process) has made a strong impression on her.  And also since we know other kindergartners in Colorado and Missouri. Anyways, I assure her that we will find a great kindergarten class for her no matter where we live and that all that matters is that our family is together.  Her reply was, "Mommy, will they have flowers there?"  And I say that I didn't know, but it would be nice if they did.  And I asked her why she wondered that.  And then I realized what she was talking about.  She figured that they would surely grow flowers in a kinder GARDEN, right?  That just about melted my heart right then and there.  Do you know what the word kindergarten means?  It's a German word which translates to 'Children's Garden'.  What a lovely and appropriately used word.  I hope I remember these very sweet little conversations when she's older and a lot less innocent. 

Grow

Yesterday we planted a garden in our backyard with the help of Jason and Becky.  It took about 3 hours to buy prep and get it all planted.  We planted tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, a variety of peppers, onions, and a bunch of herbs.  It was a great afternoon filled with sunshine and family.  Grow garden grow.

Is it spring yet?

 My newest sewing project.  I guess I'm ready for spring.