Friday, February 24, 2012

Hole-y Jeans, Annoying Park Parents, and Our Fashionista Frenchie

We are still settling into the new house.  I have found my camera, but have not yet found the charger for my camera.  So, my picture selection is . . . not so spectacular.  I am also  not posting pics of the house until it's a little less blank walls and a little more cozy-homey.  

On a note that has nothing to do with anything else, I've created a monster out of Bebe.  I prepared a little salad bar the other day during a play date and fed my sweet little puppy cucumbers, black olives and grapes while she stood at my feet happily awaiting more goodies.  I got such a kick out of the fact that she was eating veggies and fruit that I continued dropping things for at least ten minutes.  Now, anytime I am standing at the kitchen counter, or anytime I am trying to eat something, she is at my feet barking and pig-squealing.  It is driving me crazy!  She won't be getting any more treats (at least not without a little sitting, poddy-ing, or laying performance first) until she learns to control her begging urges.  

Anyhow, here are our photos of the week.  Enjoy.  




Another tennis video...I'm just going to keep posting these regardless of whether or not people are watching them.  He has started running to the ball to hit it.  Did I mention before how much I LOVE watching his tennis lessons?  L.O.V.E.



The hole in his jeans is the result of a little fall at school.  When he showed me, he said, 'now I have pants like Stasia's'.  I told him that he was getting there, but that he would need many more holes to have pants like hers.  I texted her the convo and she said to tell him that they keep you cool.  He responded that she should just wear shorts.  



While Abby and I were taking a walk she pointed to this tree and said, 'take picsur tree Mama'.  So, I said okay and readied my phone to take the 'picsur'.  While I was doing that, she plopped her little bum down in front of it and said, 'I weady'.  I thought it was a strange request from a two year old.  I should have known that it had nothing to do with the tree and everything to do with having HER picture taken. 



What do you do when you find that you are the only one putting together the 40 piece dinosaur puzzle that your children begged you to help them with?  You slowly back away and get back to what you would rather be doing . . . browsing Pinterest, of course.  



This is a terrible picture of the park that is within walking distance of our house.  It's very small, but nice enough for the little K's to enjoy romping around a bit.  We made the mistake this day of bringing Bebe with us.  I tied her to a small tree so that I could push Abby on the swing, but mommy participation didn't last long.  Two very annoying parents began encouraging their small children to come over and play with the puppy.  Who does that?  I teach my children to stay away from strange dogs and when they pet a dog that someone is walking, I teach them to put their hand out for the dog to sniff first and not to put their face near the dog's face.  I thought this was all common knowledge, but after Bebe's visit to the park, I now know different.  One father sat his one year old daughter right next to Bebe.  I held her by the collar and I told all of the kids that she doesn't bite to hurt, but she has sharp teeth and she sometimes bites when she's playing.  Immediately after I tell them this, the superstar dad says, 'oooh, she's not going to bite you'.  That statement, followed by his lack of response when his middle-child called his oldest child a 'big fat freaking idiot', made me want to nominate him for dad of the year.  Unfortunately, there is no such contest. 




Years ago I was walking through Target with a friend and rolled my eyes, in a verbal manner of course, at all of the dog outfits on one of the endcaps.  I was judging the people who dressed up their dogs, put them in little purses and basically treated them like little people.  I mean, it's a dog for God's sake, not a doll.  Times have rolled on by, and I am now officially one of those people.  I went to Petsmart to buy puppy food and they had a sale on little doggy outfits.  I bought four of them.  I wanted to buy more, but I dug down deep and found the strength to stop myself.  It wasn't easy.  Unfortunately, I misjudged the size of my growing little beast and two of the outfits didn't fit around her chest (I had already snapped off the tags, but at least I didn't pay full price).  Two of them fit her enough to put them on - the pink one needed the assistance of sharp blades to come off.  So, she is left with an adorable dog hoodie.  I tried so hard to get a good picture of her all dressed up, but she doesn't stay still for more than half of a second.  Nolan snapped the picture of her wearing her hoodie in her crate.  



After Nolan took a picture of Bebe in her crate he took a picture of himself.  



We went to Trader Joe's to buy lunch for a play date and the guy at the register gave each kid a bazillion stickers.  This made them very happy.  Nolan kept his on the paper and brought some to school today as part of their 'bring 100 things to school to celebrate 100 days of school' project (I believe they will be making a collage).  Abby decorated her arms with hers.  After decorating her arms, she stuck them all over the living room window.  I took them off of the window and put them back onto the sticker paper, telling her that they are not to be stuck on anything except for her or a piece of paper.  A little while later I found them stuck all over one of the kitchen chairs.  By the time I peeled them all off they were ruined and so I joyously threw them into the trash.  Abby was upset for about ten seconds before something else grabbed her attention. 



She really loves America.  And hands.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

New Home, New Adventures

Okay, okay.  I'm posting.  Cut me some slack.  I've had other people move all of my stuff to my new house, and other people help me pack all of our stuff before our move, and I've been incredibly busy having other people come to my house to set up various non-necessities like satellite TV and internet, and on Wednesday I have other people coming to install our TV above our fireplace and other people delivering a new mattress for Nolan's bed.  Other people doing things for me is taking up all of my precious time, leaving me with little time to post.  

What?  This should make my life easier?  You're right, it does.  I have no real excuse.  I'm just lazy.  

Our new house in Los Angeles is proof-positive that we are at least semi-permanently in California.  Having been in the state for almost a year, and having Nolan settled into a good school, this place is beginning to feel a little more homey.  Of course, now that we are in a different part of this massive city, I have to take on the chore of searching for my favorite Whole Foods, mall, pharmacy...(my life is so hard).  On the up side, I have already located my Target, and it's so much better than the one that I frequented in Encino.   So that's super exciting.  

What's been happenin' round these parts, ya ask?  

Well, Nolan announced as he climbed into the car after school one day that he had played tennis in P.E. and he loved it.  He said that it was better than ping pong, and he really enjoyed playing ping pong during our Kentucky visit last Christmas.  I immediately grabbed hold of his enthusiasm and took full advantage.  I signed him up for lessons.  He has had two lessons so far and he's doing an Amazing job!  His tennis instructor even said that he's really impressed with how well he is doing.  Most importantly, he enjoys it.  In the past Nolan has rejected every sport that we have tried to get him involved in, so his enjoyment of tennis gives me much enjoyment as well.  I love watching him practice - although, on a side note, at his first practice I stood on the sidelines (is that what you call the sides of a tennis court?) taking picture after picture on my phone and texting them to the grandparents.  After practice I told him how proud I was, that he did such a great job, and how much fun I had watching him.  His response was, 'you were on your phone the whole time'.  I got very defensive and showed him the pictures that I took and told them who I sent them to.  Then I hung my head in shame because I had disappointed my son even though I was only trying to show off his massive skills to his proud grandparents. 

Abby had her student interview at school yesterday.  Nolan's school has a primary program beginning at three years that is Montessori based, which I love.  The four little ones had to go with the teachers to the classrooms while the parents stayed in a separate room.  Did Abby cry, hold my leg, scream NO!,  and rip my heart out of my chest with her tears?   If you think that this is even a possibility you do not know my daughter.  She promptly forgot that I was in the room and walked away with the teacher, refusing to hold her hand, preferring to walk independently down the hallway commenting to all who would listen about the artwork on the walls.  She came back after about fifteen minutes telling me that she didn't want to go home, she wanted to stay at 'schoo'.  

Bebe is doing well.  We are still working on house training.  We took our first walk with her on a leash last night and it was a huge success.  Our new yard has a lot of snails in it at night and she likes to pick them up.  I feel sorry for the snails and so I try to get them out of her mouth - it's a rather disgusting process.  She is still chewing everything that she can get her little mouth on and occasionally biting Abby's and Nolan's feet, although she has gotten a little better about that.  All in all, we still enjoy our little pig squealing, incredibly gassy, snoring dog baby.

I don't have many pictures, as my camera is still packed away in one of these cardboard cubes stacked up around my house.  I have a few on my phone that I will share.  I will try to post more frequently for my disgruntled family members who keep telling me that I need to post.  As soon as other people stop doing things for me, I should have a lot more time on my hands.  



She may be gassy, and may snore like a pig, but she knows she's still a lady.




I don't really have any pictures of the house right now, but you can see a portion of our kitchen behind these beautiful flowers that our realtor brought us when we moved in.



Abby and Bebe ate a snack together on our first day in the new house.  Abby is sitting on Bebe's bed, of course.



Nolan playing tennis!  This was his second lesson.