Where do raccoons come from?

This is our conversation in the car tonight on the way home from dinner

Mary: Mom, do raccoons grow on trees?

Me (Julie): What? Raccoons? No... Mary, a raccoon is an animal

Mary: No, Mom. Raccoons. Do they grow on trees?... they are like this (holding up her hand making a small shape)

Me: Are you talking about an acorn?

Mary: No...OH!! Mom! A pine corn.

Pine corn = Pine Cone

Happy 2nd Birthday to Sally!!

Today is Sally's 2nd birthday! We are so excited and will be celebrating with my Dad this weekend. He is driving down from Manhattan Beach and will be going out to dinner
with us and helping Sally eat her cupcakes.

Jason and I cant believe that it was only 2 years ago that we were up in Clayton having pizza with friends at Skips and I was in labor. I went home to relax only to time my contractions that were all over the place. Next thing we knew little Sally made her way into the world at John Muir hospital in Walnut Creek and Mary became a big sister!

Yesterday Sally and I went through the box of 2T clothes that used to be
Mary's and she found the boots and this hat and really wanted to
dress up and be silly.

(that is some peanut butter on her face from her breakfast)

Reading her birthday card from Grandma and Grandpa Thomas

Having fun in our new train that Daddy made for the girls

out of the diaper and wipes boxes from Costco

A conversation with Mary

Last night on the way home from VBS I asked Mary what the snack was that she had and she told me "taters tots" (with that extra "s"). Knowing that she despises potatoes and barely eats french fries I proceeded to have her tell me more about the snack.

"They are small like chicken nuggets and just like the playground Mom".

Taters Tots = Teeter Totter --- of course.

I asked her if she liked them and she said yes. I told her that they are sort of made with potato and then she told me that they were disgusting.

Aunt Amy comes for a visit! July 31st - August 4th

Amy came from Indianapolis, IN to visit us in San Diego and we planned for a mini family
reunion at the Bay that weekend.

The San Diego Search and Rescue dive team looking
for the body of a man that jumped into the bay at midnight and did
not make it to shore. Of all the places in the bay to set up our camp for
the day we chose this one only to see the dive team, and coast guard arrive
30 minutes later and proceed to do this from 11am until 4pm.

Oh... and here is cute little Sally building a sand castle.

******************

.

Sally, Juliette (10), Sohpia (7) and Mary

Aunt Amy is to my right (me in the hot bikini, careful to cover up my
*not so hot* squishy tummy). Jason's cousin on his Mom's side is Michael and his
wife is Lisa. They live in Temecula. Across the table are Aunt Virginia and Uncle David (Jason's Aunt and Uncle) and the cousins.

Aunt Amy's last day in town ~ we visited Coronado

Amy has a soft spot for little Sally - what is hard not to love about a cute and
cuddly little 23 month old baby girl??!!!

--- she is almost 2?? Ah!!!!!!!!!!

... And the Mother of The Year award goes to.....

ME!!

Today was one of those days when I felt like I was an employed person getting an annual evaluation from a boss and my report came back with a bonus check and a 100% salary increase!!

Today at Trader Joes, while Mary was in school, Sally shopped with me and could hardly contain herself while I put some veggies in the cart. She was trying to tear open the bag of edamame and yelling "jschoop mama! jschoop!". That is our yiddish for the soy beans. This all started with Mary when we tried to show her how fun it was to eat edamame because you can pop them out of the pod and they go "jschoop" and land on your plate or in your mouth....

After T.J.'s shopping we picked up Mary and proceeded to the local library to return some books and turn in our reading program card for some prizes. Upon entering the library, the girls were SQUEALING with delight to be there and kept saying "Yay Mommy! The library!! Books!!".

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the American Academy of Pediatrics for recommending that I feed my kids daily servings of fruits and veggies.... and for the hot summer in San Diego without air conditioning that has forced me to find cool environments for my little ones that have turned them into book worms.

Why I LOVE LOVE LOVE having little girls

Lets just say that if this is a little glimpse into the future of living with my tidy little ladies - I am a happy Mama.

So far, they have both surpassed Jason's (did you know that he was a full grown adult, age 33?) ability to clean up after themselves! Yep -- that's correct.

Not only does Sally like to take off her dirty diapers and put them in the trash (the TRASH), but Mary has now taken to clearing her place at the table, putting any scraps in the trash can, and her bowl up on the counter to be washed. When she is using plastic dinnerware she will "wash" it in the sink in her bathroom and put it up on the counter to be put away.

Cute huh?? :) I love my girls!!!

A cool little chicky

Like Mother like daughter this cool lady has her shades on and her purse ready to go.

Those strings hanging out go to Mary's fairy wings ...
... because when you are on the go, you never know when you might need some wings.

Getting ready to read!

I was making lunch and then suddenly... it was quiet.

Too quiet.

I instantly wondered what kind of trouble they were getting into now.

Then I remembered the library books that I had just put out on the coffee table for them.

This is what I found!!

2 sweet little thomases sitting quietly while reading library books!

Sally and Mary both love books so much. It is a pleasure to take them to the library and to give them books as gifts because it is just the best thing - better than TV!

Its HOT in San Diego!

The dog days of summer are just beginning to hit us here in beautiful San Diego -- we feel it so much (although about 3 miles from the coast) due to not having air conditioning.

To stay nice and cool we are enjoying some water play in our backyard with our "shamu" pool ~ really just a whale pool that Mary has named shamu ~ and our fun sprinkler hook up toy.

I am doing lots of bathing suit laundry around here and lathering up of sunscreen like you would not believe! Today I was so desperate for a clean suit for Mary that I actually (NO REALLY!) got out a needle and thread and repaired a suit while my highly impressed girls looked on. I was a super hero to Mary when the straps on her top were fastened back on and we were ready to take on shamu.

When the evening rolls around and the house is too hot to enjoy (after sweaty naps) we hang out in our backyard once again for some hammock time!





(You can see our veggie garden in the back ground. We are growing: carrots, arugula, brussels sprouts, artichokes, tomatoes, corn, basil, rosemary, thyme... and a few other herbs)

Happy 4th of July 2009!!

This year to celebrate the 4th of July we headed up to Manhattan Beach to house-sit for Mimi and Popi while they were in Genoa.




We had fun walking to get our coffee in the morning and going to the beach for a little bit each day to play in the sand.




We also had a BLAST at Auntie Monica's house for her big party!!


















Here are the girls walking up to the party at Monica's in their festive new outfits (from Nana for their birthdays)





























Here is Sally getting toasty in Monica's turtle neck sweater before we head to the roof top patio at her home for a 360 view of the beautiful fireworks along coastal LA County!!


















The girls were both seeing fireworks for the first time ~ ever!! Normally they have been too young and asleep by the time it is dark... but not this year! Miss Mary being 4 years old wanted to stay up for the fun!

Happy 4th Birthday to Mary!

July 1st 2005 our baby girl Mary was born in San Diego at Sharp Grossmont Hospital at approximately 8:50pm. All went well and there were no complications during the pregnancy, labor or delivery. Clifford was a little jealous at first - and he never got over it.

This week she is attending "Garden Camp" through the La Jolla YMCA - a program for 3-5 year old children. She thought that she was going to Kindergarten ("kinder-garden!") and was really excited, but I had to break it to her that she has another year. Little Miss Independent would be the type of kid that would never want to be part of any homeschool program.... especially since she has informed me several times that she is going to be a "bride when she is 18 and have a baby in her tummy that wants to be born... [and that she] is going to marry Pablo".

Over this past weekend on Saturday (after her day of Kayaking) we went to the Corvette Diner with my Mom to celebrate her 4th a little early. It moved from Hillcrest to one of the first buildings at the former Naval Training Center in Pt. Loma. Click here if you want to read a little press release about the restaurant - it is awesome and we had a blast!

Mary goes Kayaking for the first time!

Mary and her Dad went out on the Mission Bay in San Diego for her first time on a kayak! She was really excited to be out in the middle of the bay and picked some kelp out of the water. The weather was perfect that day and even little Sally had a good time getting her toes wet.