Watch out- it's the season!!
Aftwards we went canoeing at Shoreline- which was packed, but fun :) It's also super nice when you have a very strong man in back doing all the work!
Friday, June 8, 2012
Hiking! (and canoeing)
We just don't do it enough...but when we do, we remember how much we like it. Last weekend we drove up Skyline in Palo Alto... and went on one of our favorite hikes. Steve has the "journey" down where he gets the kids excited to get to the "hawk canyon," "enchanted forest," and "rocky tree." All in all, it's 3 miles of a lot of different vegetation which makes it more interesting for them- and then ends up overlooking silicon valley. We could see up to San Francisco- it is so peaceful to sit up there in the grass... love it!
Cool tunnel.
My cute EMMMM.
Lots of love.
Unfortunately, whenver I say "cheese," so does Emi... which becomes this funny face because she is saying cheese. Maybe next time I'll say Smile!!
Mmm. Maybe this is where they got poison oak?! arh! Steve got it on his leg... and we think Emi got it on her face...
Watch out- it's the season!!
Watch out- it's the season!!
Karaoke!!
I have really nice friends. Last week for my birthday, they kidnapped me and took me to a Karaoke studio on a Monday night to belt it out with no shame.
This was my first time ever doing Karaoke in a real "studio," and it was super awesome! They have millions of songs to choose from, three microphones, a huge tv screen with words and occasional super cheesy videos in the background! Who wants more than that??
It was great to see some who swore they would never sing in public step up to the plate! (you know who you are!)
Aside from sweating like a pig and losing my voice, I had a FABULOUS time and am so GREATFUL to all of you! Thank you thank you! (And, thanks for the pics Ash)
Man, look at that sweat?? Holy cow.
I think this was a Brittney Song. Good to know we love some good old Brittney.
This cake was fortunately not devoured that night- instead is now is on my thighs because I couldn't stop eating it days after... ugh. Time to hit the treadmill...Thanks Erin :)
This was my first time ever doing Karaoke in a real "studio," and it was super awesome! They have millions of songs to choose from, three microphones, a huge tv screen with words and occasional super cheesy videos in the background! Who wants more than that??
It was great to see some who swore they would never sing in public step up to the plate! (you know who you are!)
Aside from sweating like a pig and losing my voice, I had a FABULOUS time and am so GREATFUL to all of you! Thank you thank you! (And, thanks for the pics Ash)
To Dance or Not to Dance...
But, definitely maybe not on Friday afternoons?
At the beginning of the year, my great friend had the idea of signing our kids up for dance for the year- I said AWESOME. Let's do it.
But- unfortunately when 3:40 came around each Friday, there was a lot of whining and complaining going on. Something about the end of the week and tights didn't really work. But- we went the whole year- and I think they learned some "moves" as Maddie calls them. It think she might be more interested in Hip Hop rather than ballet/tap... but as the real dancers say- you have to start with ballet. I think it's a great foundation.
Unfortuately, I never took any photos (just videos too long to post). They are just too cute in their tights! I want to eat them up :)
Here are some phone pics of their final performance!
Good job girls!
At the beginning of the year, my great friend had the idea of signing our kids up for dance for the year- I said AWESOME. Let's do it.
But- unfortunately when 3:40 came around each Friday, there was a lot of whining and complaining going on. Something about the end of the week and tights didn't really work. But- we went the whole year- and I think they learned some "moves" as Maddie calls them. It think she might be more interested in Hip Hop rather than ballet/tap... but as the real dancers say- you have to start with ballet. I think it's a great foundation.
Unfortuately, I never took any photos (just videos too long to post). They are just too cute in their tights! I want to eat them up :)
Here are some phone pics of their final performance!
Good job girls!
Friends are the best. A couple of weeks ago a good friend from high school visited and it was just like good times. I drove up to San Francisco to spend the morning with her--- and it made me remember the good old days. Come back Emily!
I can't forget to write about this one- either: Metrodome in San Jose shows old flicks, and they showed Mama Mia-- the sing along version.. Wha???
You show up in whatever you want to wear, and they hand you a bag full of props that you use for all the songs in the show. It's hilarous. My friend and I were sitting next to some old ladies dancing and signing at the top of their lungs "Money, money money..." and cringed when Pierce Brosnan had his moment in the sun. Definitely going to do this again.
Come with me!! Can anyone say Moulin Rouge???
I can't forget to write about this one- either: Metrodome in San Jose shows old flicks, and they showed Mama Mia-- the sing along version.. Wha???
You show up in whatever you want to wear, and they hand you a bag full of props that you use for all the songs in the show. It's hilarous. My friend and I were sitting next to some old ladies dancing and signing at the top of their lungs "Money, money money..." and cringed when Pierce Brosnan had his moment in the sun. Definitely going to do this again.
Come with me!! Can anyone say Moulin Rouge???
Swimming
This little fish started swimming lessons when she turned 3. From the moment she saw that pool, she grabbed onto my arms like I was taking her to the guillotine, but we persisted.
Through group lessons, and private lessons, and semi private lessons, and through a mom telling me "you know, I think you are scaring your kid. She is going to hate you and swimming."
I was going to pull out of swimming about 6 times, but we persisted. Emilie was a trooper, and kept on going even though she didn't want to.
And- guess what? She now likes swimming! This is a testament to all parents out there- just keep on going. This one took a good 6 months of crying almost throughout her lesson, but she is now the happiest kid out there and she's learning pop ups :)
Maddie, Emi and I go the pool almost every week and I'm so glad we kept it going- yay Emilie!!
Here's a little video of her in April...
Our New Adventure
The short story (that is sort of long): A long time ago, Steve and I were married and enjoyed our swinging single lives together. We accomplished a lot including law school and business school- they were great times (?) Well, not the first year of law school anyway. But, of course we both wanted kids! So, we started trying. And trying. And trying. No luck. With great help from a friend, I went to see an endocrinologist who diagnosed me with gluten intolerance. I tried it with a lot of skepticism, and got pregnant in 3 weeks. Crazy.
The second time around, we tried and got pregnant. Super super blessing. I really thank Heavenly Father for this one because as an only child I know the greatest blessing you can give a child is a sibling.
These two children have been the single most important thing I have done in my life- next to Steve (of course!)
Now... we should be happy !! And we are, but we just want one more (well maybe more than 1 more? We are really not sure)!! But- we tried, and tried, and tried. Many miscarriages later. Many tears. Many heartaches. Much money and trips to the doctors office. It was not a fun time.
I remember thinking "When am I just going to know to stop? Is this going to last forever?"
Well, one day, I told Steve that I was done. The roller coaster was just too much, and I needed a break, if not an infinite break. Without going into much detail, it was a super hard last miscarriage, and I don't really want to do it again.
As life would have it, we changed churches and met some new friends from Maddie's school... in our new church we met a family who adopted 4 of their children, and at school became great friends with a family who was ready to start their adoption journey.
Could this be our solution? It really wasn't something that we jumped into quickly, and we both had a lot of concerns and fears. But- for some reason, I started to become really excited.
Our excitement really hit its highest when we were attending one of the adoption classes- in a room full of strangers of every age, skin color etc in a small packed room in San Francisco.
They taught us about the new ups and downs of raising a mixed race child, the excitement of adding a possible new culture to your life, unraveling the talents that may not be apparent in your family... we really really loved the way this sounded.
And, so we did it. We signed up! We are now on the waiting list to adopt a baby somewhere born in the US. Although we would love to adopt internationally, it just takes so long- and we want to add on to our family soon :)
This baby could come to us in 1 month, 3 months or 1 year-- it is another roller coaster. But- we are extremely excited and hopeful that it will come.
But- now for the somewhat amusing part !! When you become an "adopting parent," you have to send in 1 billion pictures for the advertising teams. I didn't expect this to be so hard- but when you have to send in 40 pictures of you and your husband doing things you "like to do," you start to run out of ideas and fast!! This took us forever, and we were DYING to come up with ideas... we almost brushed our teeth together :)
Here's some (yes, very cheesy) pictures of us and our happy selves :)
Cross your fingers!!
The second time around, we tried and got pregnant. Super super blessing. I really thank Heavenly Father for this one because as an only child I know the greatest blessing you can give a child is a sibling.
These two children have been the single most important thing I have done in my life- next to Steve (of course!)
Now... we should be happy !! And we are, but we just want one more (well maybe more than 1 more? We are really not sure)!! But- we tried, and tried, and tried. Many miscarriages later. Many tears. Many heartaches. Much money and trips to the doctors office. It was not a fun time.
I remember thinking "When am I just going to know to stop? Is this going to last forever?"
Well, one day, I told Steve that I was done. The roller coaster was just too much, and I needed a break, if not an infinite break. Without going into much detail, it was a super hard last miscarriage, and I don't really want to do it again.
As life would have it, we changed churches and met some new friends from Maddie's school... in our new church we met a family who adopted 4 of their children, and at school became great friends with a family who was ready to start their adoption journey.
Could this be our solution? It really wasn't something that we jumped into quickly, and we both had a lot of concerns and fears. But- for some reason, I started to become really excited.
Our excitement really hit its highest when we were attending one of the adoption classes- in a room full of strangers of every age, skin color etc in a small packed room in San Francisco.
They taught us about the new ups and downs of raising a mixed race child, the excitement of adding a possible new culture to your life, unraveling the talents that may not be apparent in your family... we really really loved the way this sounded.
And, so we did it. We signed up! We are now on the waiting list to adopt a baby somewhere born in the US. Although we would love to adopt internationally, it just takes so long- and we want to add on to our family soon :)
This baby could come to us in 1 month, 3 months or 1 year-- it is another roller coaster. But- we are extremely excited and hopeful that it will come.
But- now for the somewhat amusing part !! When you become an "adopting parent," you have to send in 1 billion pictures for the advertising teams. I didn't expect this to be so hard- but when you have to send in 40 pictures of you and your husband doing things you "like to do," you start to run out of ideas and fast!! This took us forever, and we were DYING to come up with ideas... we almost brushed our teeth together :)
Here's some (yes, very cheesy) pictures of us and our happy selves :)
Cross your fingers!!
Our first bike ride without training wheels!
About four weeks ago, we decided that it was time to teach Maddie to ride a bike. I seriously had no idea where to start and just started pushing her around, but that wasn't really working out- so of course I searched on youtube.... and I found our solution!!
There is a bike program in NY that teaches kids to ride a bike in 1 day! Whoo hoo! I was totally skeptical, but it worked like a charm- from beginning to end. Here are the steps:
1. Lower your kids seat the lowest setting it can go so the kid can touch the ground with flat feet.
2. Take of the pedals.
3. Go to the top of a grassy hill and have them walk down the hill a million times, until they can start coasting down the hill (no feet touching ground).
4. Move to a hard surface hill (we used our driveway), and have them do the same thing. Coast down the hill without touching the ground.
5. Once you think your kid has a pretty good handle of balance...
6. Put on those pedals.
7. Start them off at the top of the hill again with pedals and have them start peddling.
I couldn't believe my eyes- but Maddie got it on her first try!! It was super exciting!! Here's our champ on the first day she learned how to bike!
There is a bike program in NY that teaches kids to ride a bike in 1 day! Whoo hoo! I was totally skeptical, but it worked like a charm- from beginning to end. Here are the steps:
1. Lower your kids seat the lowest setting it can go so the kid can touch the ground with flat feet.
2. Take of the pedals.
3. Go to the top of a grassy hill and have them walk down the hill a million times, until they can start coasting down the hill (no feet touching ground).
4. Move to a hard surface hill (we used our driveway), and have them do the same thing. Coast down the hill without touching the ground.
5. Once you think your kid has a pretty good handle of balance...
6. Put on those pedals.
7. Start them off at the top of the hill again with pedals and have them start peddling.
I couldn't believe my eyes- but Maddie got it on her first try!! It was super exciting!! Here's our champ on the first day she learned how to bike!
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