Little Holiday Gnomes

I have been having fun sewing ornaments lately. These little gnomes are my newest craft obsession. They have lots of handmade dolls like this at the Waldorf school we go to and I am enjoying the creativity of making my own. So fun!! These were a birthday gift for a friend. I can't wait to make more.

House Full of Crazy People

It has been a long time since I have posted. Lots of excitement is always afoot at Casa Gonzales, it's just finding the time to write about it that is hard. Today I closed the kitchen gate as I went out into the house to do chores. A little while later I found Delaney in the kitchen with the fridge open, chugging chocolate almond milk from the carton. She just learned that wonderful trick!! I wondered to myself if I had closed the gate or if maybe Emma had opened it. I removed her from the kitchen and shut the gate. A few moments later I heard the familiar sound of someone jumping up and down on the foot lever to release the gate. I turns out that not only can Delaney open the fridge, she can open the gate to the kitchen...the gate we put up specifically for her. Ahhhh!! She is one smart monkey.



Emma is busy with all sorts of reading (looking at books) as usual. She just can't put down a book if it is nearby. She actually read one to me the other day that she had memorized. I was very impressed. We are joyfully reading the Ramona series.She is enjoying painting and drawing. Right now we are opening an advent calendar every morning with exciting ideas and activities. She looks forward to that. She has been the voice of reason when Delaney is driving me crazy..."Mom, she just wants to be with you." Her sense of style is a bit crazy at times, but she always pulls it off, looking chic. Here is a picture of one of her heading off to preschool in one of her crazier outfits. I don't bother to get in the way.


Here are some other random pix of the girls enjoying a rope swing at a nearby park, Delaney doing some dishes etc...

Summing Up How I Feel

I am reading a daily meditation book when Emma says, "Why are you reading that?" "To help me be a better person," I say. "You mean mom!" (She's used to me taking parenting classes.) "Well, I'm a person too," I reply. To which she shoots back, "You're not a person! You're a mom!"

Emma Funnies

We are driving in the car and Emma laughs from the backseat. "If you were friends with a dragon and you tried to get it to blow out it's candles...it would blow them in!"

Emma Succumbs and Delaney & Papa Pix

Emma was helping Sam replace a part on the toilet when she got very, very tired. She made a little bed in there and asked for some bread. When Sam came back in to work she had fallen asleep. She had what Delaney did, but it seemed milder.

Here are a few shots I love of Sam and Delaney goofing around. She was in a silly mood, crawling around the kitchen very fast and getting in my face to grab the camera.

Here's What The Stomach Flu Looks Like At Our House

Emma was on her own while I tended to Delaney. She snacked on the couch and watched hours of television with no intervention. She was quite happy.

I made Delaney a bed on the kitchen floor so I could fix Emma some food. She was on a bummer. I sure am glad we have a washer and a dryer now. They were a great help.

What's Going On

Our pomegranates are ripe and delicious. Emma and Delaney love to go out and eat them in the yard. This requires nudity on their part and they are happy to oblige.

Delaney woke up from a particularly fussy night looking like this. She must have banged into the wall scraping her nose. The bridge was pretty swollen and she had two little shiners to show for it.

Here she is after climbing into the tub during my shower...in her pajamas. I was kind of frustrated, but then I had to just laugh. She is a tricky girl.

Here is Delaney with her pomegranate beard. Boy was she a mess.

Pistol

Delaney is a pistol. She is a climber, a diaper ripper offer and a runner. She loves to run from me and crawl under Emma's bed if I am trying to change her diaper, get her dressed, or take a dangerous object from her. Our bathroom, specifically the toilet, is her favorite place. If it is too quiet, I know where to find her. She is a busy girl, and she's wearing her mom out!

She loves to sing when the radio is on. She loves the bunny at Emma's school, my friend's dogs, our cat Hopper and petting them. She is learning about being "dentle", but Hopper is getting quite tired of her advances.

She still uses some baby signs. Here she is telling me she heard the paper getting delivered. Mostly she talks. Some of her favorite words...mine, stop, don't, no,no, Hopper, outside, hat, and weggie (drink). She is so much fun.

More Emma Funnies

Emma and I are snuggling at bedtime. She is drinking water and doing this irritating gulping swallow she does sometimes that fills her with air. I am trying my hardest to ignore it when she says, "Mom, I think hormones make me do that."

I am crawling on my hands and knees in the hallway killing ants and singing to Emma as I go (to keep me from going insane and entertain her at the same time). "Where are you going little ants," I sing. Emma says in an obvious tone, "Mom, they're just random ants!"

Sam went out to the living room to see what Emma and Delaney were up to. Emma was holding Delaney tightly, wrestling and pretending to bite and scratch her.
Sam: "That seems to be a little rough."
Emma: "We are playing dinosaur."
Sam: "I don't think Delaney knows how to play."
Emma: still chomping and scratching at Delaney..."She's the meat."

Emma Funnies

Today we were trying to figure out what animal was in the book we were about to read. I told Emma I thought it was a badger (actually a honey badger). She said, "I think maybe it's called the honey bear because that's what the ancient Greeks called it."

Yesterday I was talking to a neighbor about the current ant problem we are all having. I was saying I had some environmentally safe ant bait that they take back and feed to their...you know...whatever group they live in. I couldn't remember. Emma looked at me and said, "Oh, you mean their colony." It's a good thing I have her around.

Emma's New Song

I was in Emma's room tonight cleaning things up while she was getting ready for bed. She was singing to herself. It turned out to be a rather sad love song.


All I have is youou...
but you didn't want meeee...
So I wander oooooff...
in search of...
someone just like youou...

Bangs

Emma gave herself a new haircut yesterday at my mom's house. She actually did an amazing job, and got quite a few compliments on her new look from people today at the park, who didn't realize she had done it herself. I guess it is a rite of passage of sorts,and at least it looks good. Here she is getting ready to party in the living room today.

A New Pet

Emma found a snail in the backyard and made fast friends with it. She brought it inside and let it crawl all over her and down the hall. I did not want to kiss it as she requested. I appreciated her from afar. She even built her a little brick house.

Grueling Day

Here Emma is after a particularly grueling day playing with her best friend Aidan. We came home and all was quiet in her room. When Sam went to check on her she had keeled over on the foot rest and fallen asleep. Comfortable?

She fell in love with this outfit at Aidan's and asked to bring it home. She wore it to bed that night and part of the next day. It was hilarious because she looked so different, sort of like a really pretty little boy, and also because it was so out of character for the girl who only wears dresses. She kept asking if we could get her a tie of her own. She would have fit in really well at a school dance in the 80's.

Summer News

We are enjoying our summer and time off with Sam. We have been to the Natural History Museum, the Nature Center, the beach and on a camping trip. Emma has started at a new preschool that she seems to really enjoy. We have been reading and hanging out with friends and family as well...all the ingredients for a good summer. Here Emma and Delaney are squooshing in the mud at Mud Mania, put on by Rancho Los Cerritos.

Camping

We had a wonderful time on our camping trip near Lake Arrowhead. Dogwood campground was good to us and provided us with tons of dirt, the opportunity to make smores and enough room for 3 other families. The girls are great campers! No surprise really, because they love to explore and dig in the dirt. I have never seen Delaney quite that dirty. Emma is ready for another trip soon.


Our tent was actually quite comfortable, a palatial palace really, with enough room for 2 inflatable mattresses. During the set up, which took awhile, I told Sam we should just get a little tent and sleep on mats, but during the night I changed my mind. It was quite cushy and awesome to camp without any aches and pains!


Without rice crispy treats and smores where would marshmallows be?? The girls were big fans of smores...Delaney just took off with a bunch of marshmallows because it was easier.

Get Down, Get Funky

Delaney heard a street musician and stopped to dance. She was really into it. Lately she has been singing along with songs and dancing.

Flying

Here is Emma at the Santa Monica Pier. She always surprises me with the things she will do. She had been asking to do this again for a long time. She bounced joyously until the man running this lifted her way off the trampoline into the air and her feet would not touch. I saw a brief look of panic shoot across her face, but she hid it well.