Scolded by the Birds

Since we've moved here, I've been disappointed in our landlady's feeble attempt to provide a 'landscaper'. Two weeks ago Brian and I approached her about some serious overgrowth in our yard and jumped on board when she showed signs of being 'overwhelmed' with the amount of work this place needs. Once we got her consent to 'do a little bit here and there' I buzzed across the street to our neighbors and borrowed some hedgers, clippers, hand trimmers, a hand shovel, rack, and weed pick. Needless to say, we've been chopping out hedges and invasive vines, trimming the ferns, and raking up leaves ever since. Our city allows 10 30-gal garbage cans/week for green waste pickup. We 'borrowed' four from the vacant house next door to help us get the maximum done during the week. One poor orange tree has so many vines wrapped around its branches, I think it affected the production of fruit this year. We've cut many of the vines 'lifelines' but I'm not sure how I'm going to unravel them all.

The birds have been scolding us ever since.

A pleasant surprise came during our wet January weather: our cute little tree in the front has bloomed. It's flowers are about as big as my palm. And instead of shedding petals, the whole flower falls off and lands...without the stem. I took a picture today, there are a handful of blooms, but if you look closely, you can see just how many buds there are. Every day I look out there to see if there are any more. I can't wait until it's in full bloom.

We also learned that our outrageously overgrown bush (which I admit I hated because it looked so ugly) in the front is actually rosemary. Now it's in bloom too and bees are buzzing and I am, in fact, more tolerant of it's overgrowth. Funny how knowledge changes your perspective. However..rosemary or not, chop chop! into something a little more 'groomed'. Rosemary can be cut back (thank goodness) without damaging it...and into topiaries even! That would be fun! It smells really good though when you're standing out there!

Annie Janes Walks!

Our little AJ...took leaps and bounds in her development this month. Earlier (January 17th) she took her first steps, but refused to repeat them until 9 days later. And then...she just took off. She is fast, practically takes 'running' steps as she hurries from one thing to another. I'm glad we have carpet in most rooms, because she does fall a lot in her effort to hurry. Her head met some pretty strong metal bars (bed frame) twice in one day. but she's getting better all of the time. Especially bending down to pick up what she wants and then regaining her balance to walk. This has given her such freedom because now I'll take her outside to let her walk....new ground to cover! Annie, we are so proud of you.

Video #1: January 17th

Video #2: January 26th. This video is BEFORE we skyped Gramma Earl. She knew she was in the spotlight and would walk from the couch to the computer without missing a beat! Grandma and Grandpa Hale got to see her walk the next day.

Video #3: January 28th...2 days of walking

California Driver

When Brian and I first moved out here he read about the requirements for registering a car, etc. when you move to CA. i.e. you have 3 days to get your car registered, you have 10 days to get a CA Driver's license....blah blah blah. Every time we tried to book an appointment with the DMV to get a new license the appointment would be 3-4 weeks out. 10 days, huh? Since 2 kids have joined our family since moving here, it hasn't been a priority...until now.
My UT DL expires this month. So I went online to book an appointment...Jan 6 was the earliest they said was available. We're leaving for UT for Christmas soon, so my time line became even tighter. So yesterday morning as I'm thinking about things I HAVE to get done before we head for UT, I got an adrenaline surge to go to the DMV. And, before I could talk myself out of it, I packed up the two kids, 2 strollers, library books, toys, snacks, and lunch and headed to the DMV. I usually count on my kids being angels where ever we go...because, frankly, they usually are. What I continually forget is that even they have a time-limit for good behavior.
The first 2 hours there everyone was calm, happy, quiet and content. The last 1/2 hour was much the opposite. Let me recreate the scene.
We had just 'taken a break' while we went outside for fresh air and so I could feed AJ lunch. I thought this would buy me just enough time for me to take me test. The stroller I brought was too big to fit down the aisle of desks to go to a corner, so I had to stay up front. First thing to go wrong is AJ is done sitting in her stroller. I had to hold her while she bounced on my knee and played to game 'grab mom's pencil' the whole time. Ethan got ants in his pants and couldn't sit still either. He wandered down one aisle of desks touching all the desks (MOST were empty) I watched him and allowed it to happen until he wanted to climb over the chair to the next aisle (where there were many more people) I didn't want to risk having my test 'torn up' and getting 'kicked out' by getting out of my seat so I tried to give him the most evil eye I could...warning him he'd better get back in his seat before I.... 'before you what?' seemed to be his response. I even tried to enunciate my counting to three so he would know I was serious about something...but I'm sure he know I wasn't serious about 'leaving'. Instead of coming to me, he just stared back at me and counted with me, in his own quiet voice. (I was screaming and laughing in my head while I tried to stare him down and hoarsely whispered "Get...back...here!)
Snacks....snacks are magic.
Snacks were invented by angels. I whipped out AJ's puffy snack bites and had both of them chopping happily on them while I finished the test. (I had to hurry...I didn't think I had enough to last very long). But I still had to read each question at least 4 times, trying to focus on that and the kids...oh...and the snacks that just spilled all over the floor. One lady did quietly stand up and move as far away as she could get: the opposite corner. Thank you lady for not giving me the evil eye. Finally finished I handed my test in and about chuckled out loud when the lady asked me to take a seat until my name was called. I swear it felt like eternity.

Natalie Earl??

Good news...

I only missed one (got my alcoholic beverage questions correct!..whew! there were TWO!)

a new license is issued

Last thing...I did mouth a "sorry!" to the lady that had to move. She was done and waiting for her test score too. When did I say it? Oh, immediately after the lady at the front desk complimented me on my 'well-behaved' children. I could only manage an 'mmm-hmmm' in response to that compliment.

Done.

oh my gosh get me outta here!

I told Brian...when he goes to get a new license, he's taking both kids with him too! :)

I love my kids!

Ethan and AJ visit Santa Claus

Earlier in November I took the kids to the mall to browse the Christmas items and Santa was there. I took them for a visit and their reactions were ones that I anticipated...anxiety, fear, tears...the works. I took a picture anyway so I could have at least one photo in case we didn't run into Santa again this year.
But what do you know...all of the talk I've been giving Ethan, with help from some movies and songs such as, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" when we found Santa at the mall again this past Saturday...we took another turn at it. This time Ethan needed to tell Santa what he wanted...A New Lightening McQueen and tools. AJ still didn't appreciate this warm, fuzzy, fellow. However, I was very pleased that Ethan (though not making eye contact, and looking away each time he finishes talking to Santa) has made some fabulous progress warming up to a man who will shower him with gifts, even if he wouldn't smile for the camera or act overly excited.

Thanksgiving weekend in Monterey, CA

Gramma Earl with 9 of her grandkids

Hooray! Thanksgiving in Monterey, CA with cousins we haven't seen for 2 years..and meeting new ones (Joshua & Annie Jane). Brian and I opted to drive the coast up north rather than freeway so we started our journey at 6:18AM. It's funny we fooled ourselves into thinking the kids would fall asleep quickly after getting into the car. But one thing I won't be reporting is how terrible the drive was. THE KIDS WERE WONDERFUL! We could not have been happier because of that. Especially since we were on the road for a little over 11 hours, stops included.
2 hours of that was the gorgeous drive through Downtown LA...we saw the top four sites in LA: The back of the car in front of us, the hood of the car in back of us, and the cars on either side of us. Brian didn't realize his 'customized google map' took us through the heart of LA, at rush hour time. Ah well...we went slow enough that we could identify Space Mountain at Disneyland, the Hollywood sign on the mountain, and exit signs for our future 'official tourist trip to LA'. (I actually got excited to walk the famous LA streets one day)
Getting north of LA was a chore, but the rest of the drive was pretty smooth, with winding roads following the ocean shore. We stopped in Pismo Beach for lunch. Cute little resort town, would be a fun vacation spot for beach lovers. I thought it was great there was a swing set in the sand.

Our next big stop was the William Randolph Hearst Castle. According to my 'perfect' plan, we'd tour the grounds for 2 hours giving our kids a good break, and a chance to see an estate that might be equivalent in size to the castles and palaces in Europe/Russia. Alas, we didn't make 'reservations' in advance and therefore we were denied entrance because the entire day was sold out. Poor ladies at the counter, I tried not to show my disgust too much. I was seriously bummed and MAD (WHO can know for sure what time you'll arrive somewhere traveling with 2 kidlets, with LA traffic?...dumb NON-REFUNDABLE reservations!) Got an outside glimpse of it, though. No worries...we'll drive the coast again...just for fun...next time we want to see what's 6 hours north of home.

William Randolph Hearst castle, top of hill. It sports 165 bedrooms, and 127 acres of gardens

On a MUCH happier note, we did arrive at Sam & Jen's house at 5:ooPM. The other cousins were just coming home from the Monterey Aquarium. Annie Jane was outnumbered 8-1.
Here are some fun pictures from our trip. Thanks to Sam & Jen for fitting 4 extra families in their house that weekend!

Breakfast time at the Shearer's . . .powdered sugar French toast.

Uncle Will 'casting' his kelp line.

Old Fisherman's Warf

Old Fisherman's Warf

We are truly thankful to be apart of such a wonderful family, who shower one another with kind words, good food, and always...love. We sure missed having Greg & Julie and their wonderful kids with us!

Sneaking a treat and tearing paper

Tonight Ethan was DYING for a treat. He didn't get much of a lunch, so he was starving...but dinner was only 1/2 hour away, so I said "NO!" every time he begged for one. Well, he rummaged at something on the counter and said, "Mmm..Ethan got a treat!" I turned around and said, "Oh yeah? What did you find?" Knowing full well what options were on the counter..an onion, red potato or scallions. He pointed to the onion....he had 'snuck' some of the skin, and mmmmm...that had satisfied the 'treat' craving. I wonder if he'll ever do that again.


The other thing I wonder is if I just leave a pile of 'recycle' papers on the floor if AJ will stop going for the books on the bookshelf. Tear away girl! Tear away!

From the makers of Johnny Jumpers

Johnny jumpers are the most amazing thing on the planet. Especially when the kids learn how to REALLY swing ;) Here's just a small example of how Annie Jane loves this contraption. I will be sad when I have to put it away....hopefully not too soon