Stacie's Musings » my family

Fall is here

stacie — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:23:29 +0000

Today is so cold. I couldn’t believe that my car’s thermostat read 59 degrees at 10am while we were driving to pick peaches at this mom’s house. Thankfully Gabrielle brought out jackets for the boys to wear. Zed seemed fine in his one piece thing, but Ezra was shivering while on the ladder. Yes, he climbed their ladder and had a blast picking the yucky (looking) peaches. He would hand them to me saying “eeeeeewwww, this one has worms”. They don’t, really. Just sap, juice and dirt on the skins. I can’t wait to have our own fruit trees… sans worms. We have a little, bent apple tree with wormy apples. It seems all apples have worms around here. I should look into organic worm eradication methods. Anyone have success with their apple trees?
Zach and I have been watching Jamie Durrie’s The Outdoor Room lately and have come to the conclusion that when we win the lottery we need to redesign our bland backyard. Really, it is such a part of our interior that it is difficult to ignore. Oh, and does it need help! Zach even looked up Jamie’s site to see if we could get his show to come out here. I have a past client who produced Victory Garden on PBS. Even if she could convince him, we could never afford it. It’s fun to dream… (as if we don’t have enough neighbors who could design our outdoor space. Ha!)
I always think of fall as a time to plant. I remember the first year we moved here I waited patiently for the fall to buy my plants. By the time I got there, the nursery hardly had anything left and everything was half off. I liked the discount aspect, but there was nothing for me to get. I need to get my butt in gear and head to the nursery to see what I can find, before it’s all gone. Maybe some yucca for out the back window. That space is so difficult having a range from full shade to full sun from spring to fall. Wish me luck, I’ll need it.

Haircuts

stacie — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:43:42 +0000

The boys got haircuts this summer. People are still surprised to see Ezra’s lack of hair.

Pretty shocking, eh?
I thought this looked so nice that I had to work on Zed’s hair too. Although I’m not sure, I miss the super soft locks. Thank goodness he’s still a super sweet boy… if only a little meddlesome (that’s an understatement).

You might wonder where all this haircutting came from. The image below should help you understand. This character has taken over my boy’s life. We made an airbender staff and the arrows complete the look. Guess what he’s going to be for Halloween.

His Part

stacie — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:31:01 +0000

Here’s Zed playing his part in the wrestling match. Just a kick and nudge here and there. He looks pretty calm about the whole thing, don’t you think?

Lemonade Stand

stacie — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 21:53:18 +0000

Ain’t summer grand? This summer has been awesome. Swimming, playing, and the ubiquitous lemonade stand. Ezra has recently been brainwashed by Disney into thinking he wants Buzz and Woody dolls. I told him he’d have to earn the money. This stand was pushed by both kids, but Ezra was the driving force behind it.

India made a great sales woman. She needed some help with the pouring, mainly since our jug has a top that won’t stay open. We should really upgrade.

Zed is very proud of his drinking skills and shows them off as often as he can.

All Ezra needed was a giant lemon costume.

But of course he had to drink 3 or 4 glasses himself.

Almost 15 months

stacie — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:27:00 +0000

I can’t believe how big my littlest one is getting. He is still a tiny, but soon he’ll be tearing it up. He already tears up the house. We have been trying to keep the place picked up and the older kids have been helping to pick up the toys. We find it doesn’t really make much of a difference. The baby’ll just pull everything out again. The toys stay away maybe for the rest of the evening. So we pick up every other day (or every other, other day).

That little smile of his is so sweet… I know there is trouble brewing behind the cover of sweetness.

My Girl is 8!

stacie — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:50:25 +0000

It is unbelievable to me that she is so old. I remember the days when we would walk to the park each day after nap time. I would push her in the stroller to the tot lot. We would often smell the Indian restaurant getting ready for dinner. Ahhh, those were the days.
Now we are trying to get in a habit of riding bikes to school. At pick up she is often ready to go home, but her little brothers need some time to get their wiggles out. Most of the time she is patient and will wait. Typically she will eventually have fun with friends after only a bit of complaining.
All in all India is a sweet girl. She is always concerned for her friends, making sure they feel included. After living here for 3 years she has finally found her niche. Not to say she hasn’t fit in, but now I can say she has a good group of friends who care for her as she does for them. Lots came to support her on her birthday when she was baptized.

Citrus in Menton

stacie — Wed, 05 May 2010 20:17:03 +0000

Every February this village on the boarder of France and Italy hosts a citrus festival. They make structures out of lemons and oranges. This year each depicted either a movie genre or scene from a film. There is also a parade, but we missed that. Zach did see a posse of Cowboys and Indians twirling ropes and riding horses. Welcome to France. He says the French love westerns.

Zach bought a crepe and I bought a hot lemonade (it was cold out) along with some orange shaped candy to take home to the kids.

After seeing the citrus we wandered through the streets until we came to the Mediterranean. There were some pretty crazy signs and the sea was beautiful.

The sign with the alien wind surfer cracked me up.

That night we ate pizza, seeing as we were so close to Italy. There we were, 4 adults and 6 kids in a little restaurant with only one who can (more easily than some) speak French. We were enjoying each others company while the staff watched us intently. Then a large group of what looked like a middle aged soccer/rugby team came in. I thought for sure they would be louder than us. Nope. Not a word passed between them. Were they listening to us? Do Europeans not speak while eating with friends? What gives? I imagine that after we left they continued on with their lives. Which included speaking while eating together.

Spring Has Sprung

stacie — Sat, 01 May 2010 15:50:22 +0000

Our crab apple trees have finally bloomed. I mean to say, bloomed for the first time in the 3 years we have lived here. It’s sad we have missed this beautiful display each year because of late freezes. I think the first spring we arrived the trees bloomed (we didn’t live in this house). But coming from lush Maryland this high desert spring couldn’t compare with the one we had left behind. Our yard is quite beautiful in its spring glory.
Some new developments in the Smith home. Zed is walking and Ezra finally decided to play with the counting game I made him for Christmas.

1st Cake

stacie — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:18:07 +0000

Really? Well, probably not really his first cake. He is the third child after all.

Our friends who live in the neighborhood made these shirts for Zed and I. This was their maiden voyage.

This one is our brown baby. Brown hair, eyes and skin. I’d like to get a shot of all three kids to compare skin tone. Maybe this summer.

Not only is he brown, but he eats just about anything you put in front of him. Green being his favorite color to eat. How cool is that?
FYI, I do not recommend the Safe Sippy (which Zed is holding). It leaks on the floor, leaks in the bag. It leaks, leaks, leaks! They include a plug which can be inserted while traveling, but you have to unscrew the lid, dripping liquid everywhere to unplug the thing. That doesn’t help at all when child throws it to the ground. I’m a sucker for BPA free stuff, but let me be the only sucker who buys this thing!
Ok, just read that they will replace my leaky sippy. Maybe now I can really have a safe sippy that will keep me safely sane!

The Street Where we Stayed

stacie — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:46:17 +0000

This is the street where we stayed our week in France. Atop this hill was an old ruin dating back some 800 years. The streets were so narrow, it was hard to believe any cars drove it at all. Our first time driving up the hill, we missed this street entirely since a car was parked at it’s head. I thought it was a driveway, Zach new it was a street… the street. Tells you who has driven in France before.

As we walk down the hill to our safely parked cars we passed two fountains…

one in a little cobble stone square with this on it’s edge…

As we head down the hill the road widens enough to allow some parking. Love the French cars. So tiny.

This is the wall in the parking lot. I wanted to photograph the family here, but every time we were in the lot we were off to some destination… wearing heavy coats. Oh the weather! Too cold!

This is Mary’s favorite door. Was it really that blue? I can’t remember. We may need to collaborate to get the right color balance.

Happy Easter

stacie — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 22:53:51 +0000

Just a couple from today. Happy birthday to baby Zed is also in order. Photos of him devouring his cake soon to come.

Sweet, even while trying to escape!

Sunday in Toulon, France

stacie — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:08:55 +0000

We were able to attend church in Toulon and Zach was even recognized… after an absence of 14 years. This guy immediately recognized him and even recounted some stories about Halloween and pizza making. He then went and got the missionary book to find Zach’s entry.

How amazing is that?
After church we visited a town called Bormes-les-Mimosas. This town was to die for. Tiny streets with mostly foot traffic. Beyond the beauty of the secluded corners and the charming “Venelle des Amoureux” this is the heart of the Mimosas festival. I love that in Europe the seasons and plants are celebrated. An entire festival for a flowering tree? When we returned to California I swear we saw Mimosas on the hillsides of So. Cal. Here they are nothing. The blossoms not treasured, or even noticed. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them all my life and never thought twice about them. Humm.
Here are a few images from B. Mimosas.

View from the ruins.

The girls running.

Some of these are a bit blurry, that come with evening shooting using a point and shoot. The color and texture of the stone caught my eye.

Me.

My cute niece. Don’t judge the focus… point and shoot. Kicking myself that I left the SLR behind that day. So frustrating.

Such a beautiful mimosa tree.

Did I mention it was Valentines Day? Thank goodness we had some evidence of romance on this trip. With 6 kids, there wasn’t much smooching going on.

Disneyland Vacation

stacie — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:35:00 +0000

Just before heading to France Zach had a conference at the happiest place on earth… yup, Disneyland! We went last year while I was pregnant with Zed and had a blast. Such a wonderful place, every worker nice and helpful. No issues or problems and hardly any lines the entire day! It helped that it rained everywhere but Anaheim.

This year we did catch rain, and quite a bit of it. But we still had a great time and the babe and I could go on almost everything. Just the 3 kids and me and it worked great. I used the Moby Wrap and didn’t have to take Zed out except for the Rodger Rabbit ride… which I don’t suggest. Bleh.

The kids went on the roller coasters with Zach that night. He was able to get an evening ticket from the Hotel (they only offer them to conference attendees). When we returned to California we went to Legoland. The rides weren’t as impressive or baby friendly. India thought it was way cooler than Disneyland but she’s a Lego fanatic.

India was chosen to be a Padawan. Ezra was heartbroken. Luckily he cheered up enough to watch India fight Darth Vader. I think it helped that Darth Maul was so close to us. He was super intense and looked exactlt like the character in the movie; yellow contacts and everything. We met Peter Pan and the Fairies and Mickey.

One of the favorites, Small World. I think Zed really liked it too.

Our Room with a View

stacie — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:37:13 +0000

This was our room and the staircase and views throughout the house we stayed in on our trip. We stayed with Zach’s brother and his family. He, his wife and 5 kids lived in this 1500 sq ft row house for their 3 month stay in Toulon, France. The house was filled to the gills, 4 adults and 6 kids. But we had our own room and I don’t think we stepped on too many toes. They were probably happy to have their couch space back (it’s tough to share a love seat with all those people) and have more hot water for showers. Thank you so much for putting us up. We had so much fun with you all!
Since our return, my wanderlust has doubled. Once home I received an email from my Slow Food convivia (local group) describing school lunch in France. Here’s a quote from the article:
“no single meal is repeated over the 32 school days in the period, and every meal includes an hors d’oeuvre, salad, main course, cheese plate and dessert.”
Seeing as I have had many discussions with parents, teachers and principal about the length of lunchtime (I think the kids get 15 minutes to eat… if they line up quickly enough to enter the cafeteria). Not to mention the “food” served to the kids. You must read the article to get the full view of the huge deficit our kids have in their food education. In the US, food education seems to come mainly from TV commercials. It’s no wonder kids think the best food is fast food, sugar cereal and yogurt so hopped up with sugar and additives/chemicals it really isn’t food anymore.
Thankfully I’m not the only parent at our school questioning the ethics of school lunches. Hopefully we can build a force to be reckoned with and make some major changes.
Food-in anyone?

Our Time with Family

stacie — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:34:53 +0000

We spent a few days with family and the camera came out on one of those days. I only wish I had captured each family member with Zed. That just means we need some family members to visit here in CO.
We had a birthday meal for my mom. The kids had a blast with Aunt Teri’s gifts. Blowing bubbles that could stay intact in their hands and made a huge mess. How could they not love that?
Zed got a turn with each of his Aunts and Uncle. He even ate with Dean.

Aunt Teri has the best hair and jewelry… so much fun to play with.

Then more time outside as the sun set.

Teri, Dean, my kids and I headed to HB after this. Teri’s place is always fun. We hung for a bit, then off to the beach to see what we could get into. Of course Ezra wanted to get into the water. Too, too cold. But we found all sorts of things to do while avoiding the cold ocean. India and Teri were digging for sand crabs… none to be found While Ezra found all sorts of sticks and treasures washed up from the recent storms.

Then Teri got a hold of the camera. After figuring out how to focus the thing she did some amazing things! Here’s proof: some awesome pics of me and the kids. What a treat!