Duck and Car

New words for today!
Last night we were at the Angel game, and Hannah's friend Jackson had the coolest light up duck. Today, she went and found her duck from the bathroom, and said "Duck" a few times. Super-exciting to hear a new word, but I think we'll practice this one at home a few more times, just to make sure that she says it just right. She's still working on that letter "u" sound. Like Gus. She says, "Giss." Duck isn't coming out right for the untrained ear just yet. :)


It's HOT outside. Yesterday, we braved the triple digits and were the only lonely souls in the park. Today, I put on Cars for her to watch. She gets pumped whenever she sees a car: on the freeway, in the parking lot, on a commercial, in a magazine, or even if they drive by (and we live right on the street, so that is all the time). As soon as the movie came on, she said "Car!" Clear as a bell. I was SO EXCITED. But just in case I didn't understand her, she looked at me, and said, "VroomVroom!!" Yes, honey. Car goes vroom-vroom.

People, she is learning, and I love watching it!

a delicious mess.

To do list.
It used to be something I made when I was going to have a really busy day.
Now, every day is really busy.
And I always seem to be rolling through the same to-do list when I am home, along with whatever comes at us that day.
email. errands to run. something interesting comes up. who knows.
Some days, I can hardly keep up.
And some days, it all gets done, and then some, and I have no idea how, except somebody prayed for me, and by the grace of God, it was a good day!
Today, I had one of those looming to-do lists from school. I did not know which way it was going to go.
I had a cold over the weekend, and so I just squeaked by with the necessities, and some stuff would have to be done this week, when I was feeling better.
OH MY.
Then I realized that I needed to update grades/write a test/enter comments and citizenship for the grading period/answer a ton of email and file it accordingly/and reschedule the Spain Tour... all in one day.
God is good and Hannah took a blessed 2 and a half hour nap!
So, I answered email, played with my test until I loved it, sent out some more email, etc. and then... thought about what to make for dinner.
We have a big bowl of veggies sitting in our fridge. They are from our garden, and they are probably the last thing that I want to go to waste.
So, with the a/c blasting, I baked up some chocolate zucchini bread (and muffins, because I had enough zucchini to double the recipe, but then didn't realize that the recipe had already been doubled - it really smelled chocolatey in here!) Those got a little toasty. Will bake them for less time next time. Hard to tell when chocolate bread is done, it's already darker than golden brown! Maybe I'll try this recipe.
And then, I made spaghetti sauce from our tomatoes and basil. It was delish (or at least it turned out decently) and we were so excited to eat from our happy little veggie patch!
I am so thankful for the few hours in the afternoon to just play around in my kitchen.
It was one delicious mess.
And now my dishwasher is washing away.
And I am going to bed, ready to start the next day.
Thank you, Lord for this one!

It's pumpkin time.

The first day of fall is Wednesday, and I think most of Orange County, like me, is anticipating it's arrival: Trader Joe's is all out of pumpkin pancake mix, and Coffee Bean is all sold out of Pumpkin Spice coffee. Looks like I'm not the only one with pumpkin on the brain!

There's a lot to see in this world, that's for sure, and we saw a lot of it today at the Long Beach Antiques Market. It was the most awe-inspiring outdoor shopping experience I have ever had, and we saw stuff that I never would have imagined... am I really old enough for some of my toys to be sold at an antiques market? No... couldn't be. I love old kitchen antiques, and hanging racks for pots and pans, fun coats, hats, scarves, chunky costume jewelry, funny vintage signs, anything bakelite, and old fashioned toys (yes, older than mine!) There was lots of stuff that I thought, "I could totally use that!" (example: the red Schwinn Twinn. Totally wanted that. I might have even coveted it.) And some stuff, I wondered if anyone really needed that (like the naked lady needlepoint. seriously. jules and i saw it on the way to the bathroom. who does that sort of thing?). All in all, a fascinating mix, and some great people watching, too! My favorite were the two people dressed as pirates in broad daylight and end of summer heat. Fun to see, and so glad Hannah was not pointing!

As always, seeing the world through Hannah's eyes is so much more refreshing, and as soon as we let her out of the stroller, she was off checking out anything and everything that makes her say "Oooohhhh!" (We heard a lot of that!)
Here are some of her favorites:

a cool old trike... just like the one you have at home, honey!

a parasol to keep that hot sun off!

Ok, the parasol was too cute for words. Once I told her it was just like Mary Poppins, she took off with that thing, feeling so pretty and important! I love this picture and Micah. They are so cute together. They looked at a lot of cars together. She's got a thing for the "vroom-vrooms" lately, and Micah could not be prouder.

We finished off the day with a delicious birthday lunch for Aunt Teri at the Lazy Dog Cafe, which we had never tried, and I have to say, the Lazy Dog burger is definitely worth a try. Such a great day. The weekend should never end.

word of the day: september 18

I love reading Hannah bed time stories. It's pretty much my favorite time of every day. I dig the cuddle time.
Now she likes them so much, she wants them before her nap, too! Yessssss....
I know reading is important. It helps them to learn words and stuff.
Like today. Harold and the Purple Crayon. One her favorites.
She likes to point out the "oon" on each page. (I cannot decide if this is short for moon or luna, but either way, I am so proud when she says it!)
Today, no "oon."
Instead of quietly drifting off to sleep, Hannah sat bolt upright and began yelling her new word of the day: "puppo!"(purple). enthusiastically... on every page!
nap was happily delayed for a few more minutes as we practiced the new favorite word.
purple! word of the day!
Maybe "P" is her favorite letter lately, as she decided to start calling Micah "Papa!" (instead of the usual Da-da) this week, too!

It's a race!

I don't know how it happens. Something in my brain clicks, and I think, "It's a race!" as Mr. Bean so famously puts it in Rat Race. "I hope I win!"

Now, I am no super-athlete, so in most races I'm in, I actually don't win. Whatevs. That's ok. BUT, I have found that if the other person doesn't know that we are racing, then lots of times I stay ahead of them, and "win".

I do this all the time in the pool. I don't let anyone pass me. In any lanes that I can see. Micah thinks this is hilarious, because I'll come home all bent out of shape if I actually got passed. It's a problem.

Perhaps I need an outlet for this kind of competition. Today, I was enjoying my warm-up walk up my favorite hill before my fun run this morning. I was listening to music and enjoying some peaceful thinking time. In the corner of my eye, I noticed movement. It was a guy on the other side of the road, on his bike, and he really wasn't riding too fast. (It's a pretty steep hill). I thought, "Wow, he's going slow. But actually, I probably look like that when I ride up this hill."
Then he started to get ahead of me.
Click. "It's a race!"
I should run. I bet I could pass him.
No, I shouldn't do that.
He would feel horrible.
He got passed.
By a girl.
Running!
No, that's mean.
I should not be trying to race people who are not racing.
He probably wouldn't even notice. Or care.
He is enjoying his bike ride.
I could never race bikes. I always get passed.
Kind of like when I run.
But not as bad.
When I ran my first 5k, I think I got passed by a nine-year-old. That was humbling.
Not so much the next time.
I don't like to get passed. Like that scene in Spanglish, where Téa Leoni is yelling "Left!" as she passes everyone, and the nanny hears her coming, and won't let her pass: "No left!" That's me. Don't pass me :)

I should run more.
It's good thinking time, good exercise, and I would get better at it.
Maybe I could finish that half-marathon I was training for last year.
Takes a lot of time to train, but if I could get to bed earlier, I could wake up early enough to be back before Hannah and Micah are ready for the day.
I think I'll do it. I'll run the half-marathon. In February.
I'm a little intimidated by this.
Not Micah. He says that he's really good at running. He could finish this race without training.
I think he would be really sore.
He says no.
I think he should run it.
Behind me. So I feel like I'm winning :)

"That's a nice bike."

I've been riding my bike more often lately. I ride it to the grocery store, (where I always seem to be). Hannah is sick so I needed to go get some soup stuff, so off I went, helmet and all on my little green bike. I feel like I am taking my life in my hands any time I ride near cars.
There's a lot of construction right now on some of our main streets, so getting there was crazier than I had expected. I pretty much took the sidewalk. Just to be safe. (Ironically, all this construction that was making my bike ride so dangerous, is because they are adding bike lanes).
After my shopping trip I decided on a longer route home (my balance with a full basket is pretty comical). There are less hills and WIDE sidewalks... so this was definitely the safer choice.
While waiting at the light on Paseo de Valencia and El Toro, 2 Harleys roll up. If Micah ever had a motorcycle, it would look like these bikes. Black, understated, but everything really done right. They were really nice bikes. And surprisingly, as I'm (finally) crossing the street, one of the guys says, "Hey, that's a nice bike."
I kind of laughed, but said, "Wow, thanks!"
Then, they laughed even harder because they were talking to each other... not to me. On my bicycle.
It's ok, we all got a good laugh, and in the end, I do think it's a nice bike.

And that's my story for the day.