brief...

kids are waking up...

s is 16 months old as of two days ago.

we are beginning potty training, just putting our feet in the water. she's pooped on the potty a few times, and has been waking up from naps with a dry diaper (sometimes), so we've brought the portable potties out & spread them through the house. just sitting on them gets her one reese's piece. she cried one day the whole way home from the grocery store because she needed to poop, and didn't want to do it in her diaper. amazing. she has, since, pooped in her diapers, but still. i thought it was pretty neat, since she was just 15 months.

z graduated from his gymnastics mini stars level up to the next one.

i've been very busy trying to finish 2012's taxes.

i cut my whole backside with a razor this morning because i was so tired and in a hurry. being tired and in a hurry are not a good combination, because i get clumsy and do stupid things like cut myself with a razor. thankfully, abuelo/a were able to stay home with s while i took z to his swimming lesson. had i taken s, she would've been trying to jump into the water the whole time, while crying. 

i have to teach group lessons on saturday, and have teacher training all day on sunday in eugene, so it's a no fun all work weekend. z has been coughing through the night the past few nights, so sleep has been at a minimum. all i can say is "ugh."

i was accepted into a violin teacher thing at juilliard, which takes place at the end of may, so while i have many travel details to settle, i look forward to seeing lots of college friends (as most of my whole conservatory class moved to nyc).

time to get z up and ready for ballet.

valentine's day 2013

teacher a at pasitos taught z to make the tsk sound & wink at the same time. he did it to me when i was trying to be stern & tell him to get ready for his nap. i almost died laughing inside, but just barely broke a smile & asked him who taught him that. it was so so so funny seeing a little boy do something so seriously. oh dear. what that child will turn into when he grows up..

last night at story time, right at the beginning, z told everyone that he will be having a valentine's day party at school, but that he has to go to swimming first, and "mommy says i have to get dressed extra fast so that i won't be late for the party." j & i just about died. we were mortified. luckily i was in the back on the floor, playing with s. i told z later that night that he doesn't need to tell everybody things like that.

daddy broke our camera (he dropped it), so i can only take pictures with my phone for now. a new one is on the way.

mardi gras '13

s enjoys the concept of a doughnut more than the actual doughnut. she did more squishing & less actual eating, which is fine by me.

 we did our annual run for doughnuts this morning. we tried going to doughnuts plus, but it was gone!!! :(   however, my friend c told me it is moving to a different location, so all is not lost. i had built up the visit so much, though, that i had to go to krispy kreme instead. those aren't our favorite doughnuts, but oh well.

this doughnut was actually pretty good - it has a chocolate raspberry filling

z's new heart...

letter from grammy

valentine's day letters arrived in the mail for s & z, from grammy. both kids loved them! s, especially. she kept pointing to the sticker on the envelope, and then to the stickers on the page. thank you, grammy!

girl scout cookies

these are s's very first girl scout cookies. she didn't really like the thin mint one, but liked the plain short bread one & the lemon cookie.

friday night ice cream cone

z enjoys his own ice cream cone

it's so cute seeing s want what z has. it is a bit of a pain, but at the same time, it's cute because it means she understands so much! watching little people eat can be so cute.

watching the superbowl at home

dinner at g'ma & g'pa's

yummy cupcake! see video below for the action

cupcake is all gone!

g'pa love

giving g'pa hugs

here is a video of s demolishing her cupcake, making serious frowny faces, and rolling her eyes for the very first time...

sherm the worm

so this year, z has finally had "favorite" songs. he hadn't really paid much attention to them before. we're always listening to either the suzuki violin recordings, or children's music. z has a favorite called "sherm the worm." whenever it comes on (or when he requests it), he starts dancing around. now s dances to it when it comes on and gets excited, even if z isn't in the car. in fact, we were in the grocery store earlier this week, and she heard a similar song playing (jazzy rock with saxophones), i think it was a stevie wonder song, and she started dancing around to the music. so cute!

cute

just a random pic of s. she likes to walk around with the oven mitts on her arms. she also likes walking with stethoscopes around her neck. they go with her everywhere.

pie

z was being read an amelia bedelia book, and it mentioned lemon meringue pie. he didn't know what it was, and i had some pie dough to use up, so i made one. it was so good that j had seconds, and he NEVER has seconds of dessert! everybody liked it, especially s.

batman puppet show

no words for this one...??? that's...my...son...

spiky hair

z decided one morning he wanted dinosaur spiky hair, and daddy had time to create this look.

happy birthday, grandma!

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a dinner for my mom's birthday at deschutes brewery. what a cute way to present a candle!

z sings to grandma...

workshop

i organized my very first workshop for my students in early january. i brought the wonderful tracy helming down from seattle to work with everyone. it was a busy weekend, but a great learning experience for everyone! here is a picture of one of the group classes she taught.

working

executive z, conducting important business

jingle

jingle whaaaa???? again, my "reality."

new year's eve 2012

    

 on new year's eve, we left the kids with the grandparents in tigard, and we spent the night at the benson hotel downtown. they had a new year's eve package that included a night's stay and dinner and dancing to the music of the shanghai woolies. it was a fun night away. this is a picture of the dessert from the buffet.

j is enjoying the dessert...

fun with hats

j trying to look cool

our partners in crime, k & a

these are candy cigarettes.... don't worry mom!

hurray for 2013!!!

old year's eve 2012

our friends, m & c, at old year's eve, celebrating the end of the old year.

1 + 1 = ?

mommy didn't take enough math in college to be able to follow this conversation... this is the sort of "reality" i live in day in and day out.

old chicago

we finally got our visit in to old chicago, albeit not on christmas eve. s is always something to watch. i think she tries to see just how messy she can be. thank goodness for the beer (for mom & dad)...

xmas 2012

z's first time on the sit n spin

s looks a little exhausted, and it's only the morning

xmas 2012

a gift from uncle charlie! thank you so much! z loves it!

xmas 2012

s in her new rocking chair, and z, posing in his most common pose these days.

thankfully, this recorder broke about an hour after it was unwrapped. santa must've gone shopping at the dollar store...

s is having fun, even if she doesn't quite understand what the fuss is.

xmas eve

i happened to wake up after santa had visited, so i thought i'd take some pictures - one with flash, and one without.

xmas eve

we went to the early church service for children on christmas eve, and then we were hoping to go to old chicago for dinner. we're members of their world beer tour club, and had some coupon for buy one appetizer, get one free. it was good only on THIS day, so we assumed they had regular business hours, but sadly we learned it was not so when we arrived and they had closed already. mcmenamins was closed, too, but thank goodness for pizza schmizza! they saved the day! earlier that day, we took the kids to out of this world, an indoor play park that served pizza, and z had wanted pizza so badly when we were there, but we told him no, that we'd be going to old chicago for dinner (which specializes in pizza). this way, z still got his pizza. perhaps we'll make this a tradition every year!

new boots

new snow boots, which will most likely never be used, as it hasn't snowed at all this year, and we're not taking any fun trips to snowy places. #whydidibuythese? (wishful thinking, i guess.)

daddy was getting grumpy about so much work, so i made him take z up to mt hood on dec 23. z had his first skiing lesson ever, and daddy got a few runs in. s & i stayed at home & ran errands.

     

here is a compilation of all the footage from z's skiing. for now, i'm still a better skiier than z (which isn't saying much...)!

it's a goal of mine to get caught up on blogging this weekend.

something amusing - z had been in bed for all of 2 minutes, and started calling for me. he said, "mommy - i had a nightmare!" there is no way he could've had one - he never fell asleep. he asked me in the car early this week what a nightmare was. i don't think he still quite understands it.

he's coughing a lot less, and has been back to his normal energy level for quite some time. s is still sick, but i think her nose was finally dripping less, and she was coughing less today. last night i tried giving her benadryl and running two humidifiers in her room, and she slept all the way until 6:40! best night of sleep i've had in a long time. i started feeling sick two days ago - the worst head ache, sore throat, stuffed up runny nose & sneezing. i took benadryl last night, too, and am taking it again tonight. i'm hoping for another good night. i decided not to nurse s anymore at the 5:30/6:30am time, so i'm bracing myself for some early awakenings. ugh.

in order to begin suzuki teacher training, you have to submit a video of your playing. i did some training for books 1-5 at c.i.m. in my last year of undergrad, but never registered it. i believe it's too late to register, so i plan to just do it over again with different teachers. i'm going to seattle for a day long workshop in may, and in june, i hope to do book 1 at the oregon suzuki institute. i made a video last friday, after practicing mozart's 5th concerto for a week, submitted it sunday, and it was accepted! yay for me!

s always goes to the same place in our house when she has to poop - right next to the kitchen table & the windows - so now when she goes over there, i put her on the potty, and she sometimes poops in the potty! yay! exciting, in a sort of messed up way that only parents understand. sometimes, however, she just holds it, and waits until i've put on a new diaper, and then she goes. sigh.

s was doing a great job of saying "hello" today, with z's prompting. she was also pointing to various body parts when quizzed. she likes doing it - she thinks it is funny. this morning the abuelos visited and brought valentines gifts, and of course we had swimming. z was brave, and i had fun swimming with s. we went for a walk through the secret passage way after lunch, and then it was naptime & teaching for me. time for bed!