Cousins

My cousin Ryan and his family were in town (Oakland) visiting with some friends. Ryan, Monica, Jeremy, Zachary, and Cameron. Shyla kept calling Cammy "my friend". I would tell her that's her cousin, Cammy. She goes, "Mom, where my cousin?", "Do you know where is my cousin?", and "Where's my Cammy?" They were able to make a trip over to my parents place on their way out of town. It was a short visit, but we all enjoyed the time together anyways. I cannot believe how big their kids are getting! I used to think the people that came up to me as a child saying, "Oh, Christina! You're getting so big. I haven't seen you since you were "this" big (put your hand out to show height)" were OLD. Now I'm that people! I guess they really weren't as old as I thought they were. I certainly don't feel old by any means. I know my body doesn't work the same as it did 15, 20 years ago, but I'm certainly not old.Before they arrived, we took the kids down to Carlos Bee Park. It's a small park down the street from my parents place. It's my childhood park. It's set back a little ways from the main road. It has bathrooms, a playground (that is updated from when I was a child), a stream, some pathways in the trees, and a small area to have a BBQ/picnic. Shyla met this boy at the park. He was so sweet to get off the swing and push her when she wanted to go higher.

Jacob's 1st Birthday Party

It's party day! The normal plan will be to have Jacob's party the weekend following his actual birthday, but this year Jake was supposed to have his knee surgery on June 2nd, 3 days before the party, so we decided it was best to move it to the weekend before. After we found out that his surgery date was getting moved up things were crazy around here for a couple weeks. By the time we started thinking about planning the party, we just decided to keep it on the Saturday before.

It was a fun time. There were people. There was food. OH! I was impressed with our food choices. I made strawberry spinach salad (SO YUM! Jake even ate it!), a jello/cool whip/cottage cheese salad, had a veggie tray, nacho cheese warming in the crockpot, and pizza snacks baking in the oven.

The cake. Ah yes, the cake. SOOOO.... the plan was to have a Mickey cake. I was going to make a round cake with 2 round mini cakes for the ears. The top half was going to be black and the bottom half red with white buttons. I was going to use little marshmallows for the buttons. I wasn't sure how to get black frosting and I couldn't find and black food coloring. I did find black icing coloring. I started by mixing a little bit in. It looked rather grey instead of black. So I added more. Stirred. Darker grey, but still nowhere near black. So I added some more. And some more. And, yes, more, until I used the whole little jar. I tasted it and.... YUCK! It really wasn't meant to be frosting tinting. What do I know? I like photography, I'm still having to work on my cake making skills!

So the hour before the party I made my way to the grocery store to buy a Mickey cake. I went to 2 different stores and neither one had Disney anything. So I bought a plain 'ol white cake with white frosting and had them write Happy Birthday Jacob. I wasn't sure that Jacob's cousin Chase would be able to make it (they share the same birthday), so I didn't have them write his name on the cake. As it turned out, he was able to come to the party. I made sure that he got his own cupcake/candle to blow out when we sang ♪ Happy Birthday ♫.

Shyla fully enjoyed herself! She had great fun with Uncle Bruce during the impromptu water fight. She even poured a bucket of water on Candy Grandma! After most of the party goers had left 2 more familes showed up. This was great for little Miss Shyla, because she got a second wind and continued to run around with their kids! She refused to take a nap and really just wanted to "help" Jacob open his presents.

After the party, Jake, Shyla, and myself got to take a ride on the Harleys. Well, Shyla sat on Candy Grandma's. I got to ride on Uncle Bruce's. Jake took a ride on Uncle Bruce's and got a second ride on Candy's. Aunt April rode her bike too. It was a lot of Harley for our street :)

All in all it was a fun day and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Given that we'd had rain 2 days prior, we weren't positive the weather was going to be good for the party. We were prepared to have it indoors if needed... but there was no need.

"Grandpa Nonno" Made A Buckboard

Per Wikipedia.com: "A buckboard is a four-wheeled wagon of simple construction meant to be drawn by a horse or other large animal. The "buckboard" is the front-most board on the wagon that could act as both a footrest for the driver and protection for the driver from the horse's rear hooves in case of a "buck". The buckboard is steered by its front wheels, which are connected to each other by a single axle. The front and rear axle are connected by a platform of one or more boards to which the front axle is connected on a pivoting joint at its midpoint. A buckboard wagon often carries a seat for a driver. Such a seat may be supported by springs. The main platform between axles is not suspended by springs like a carriage. Made in the 1700s around the same time as carriages. Originally designed for personal transportation in mountain regions, these distinctively American vehicles were widely used in newly settled regions of the United States."

Cake Making

Not too long ago I posted about "just for today" where in no fewer words it's saying us parents need to "let go" once in a while and let our children grow. I took the plunge and I let Shyla make her own PB&J sandwich. She LOVED it! Getting to see her face light up when I let her stick the knife in the jar and when I told her it was ok to lick it when she was done... priceless!

I decided to try it again. This time I let Shyla frost a cake... on her own. I did the sides since they were a little harder, but she used her own knife, got the frosting on it, and frosted it herself. I let her put red and brown sprinkles on too. She really enjoyed that part. It turned out pretty good. It's hard to say what her favorite part was, but I think it was getting to lick the knife at the end. I think I should make a conscious effort to let her "do her own thing without my "be carefuls", "watch outs", "don't make messes" in the background at least once a week. It's fulfilling and rewarding for both of us!

Pudding Bath

I'm sure there were tons of fun things I got to do as a child. Some I can remember. Some I cannot. My parents have some pictures saved of me doing fun things as a child. Once in a while I can actually remember doing whatever it was shown in the picture. One thing I remember doing was playing "Find the Cherry". For family night, we would fill up pie tins with whipped cream and put a cherry in it. Then we'd be blindfolded and had to "find the cherry" without using our hands.

I thought it would be a fun experience for the kids to paint in the bathtub with pudding. Easy to make, easy to wash off, and you can eat while you play. Shyla called it "mud". I made the mistake of telling her in the morning what we were going to be doing before bath/bedtime. All day she kept asking me, "When do we get to play with mud momma?"

Shyla spent a lot of time painting her brother and the walls and occasionally threw a handful at the wall to watch it splatter. Jacob spent most of the time eating the pudding. He's a smart one! I think with the hot summer almost here this could become a weekly activity.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

WITH WATER! And lots of it.

Last year I planted a veggie garden in the same spot as I did last year. I watered every day as I was instructed by many people. I tried to grow a lot of different things. Strawberries, watermelon, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, and eggplant. All I ended up getting was some SMALL strawberries and a handful of tomatoes. I was quite disappointed to say the least. I didn't know what I was doing wrong. Because it was the first time I was planting in that area I made sure I prepped the dirt appropriately. My dad and I rototilled, removed rocks and "debris" from the dirt, and added top soil and fertilizer. I watered every day... and nuthin'.

I decided to give it a go again this year. I planted the plants a little too close together, but last year I spaced them according to the instructions on each type of plant and nothing grew. I correct that, SOME of the plants grew, but none ever sprouted flowers and/or gave off fruit except the strawberries and tomatoes. Since the plants didn't really get big I didn't think I needed to plant them the same distance apart this year.

I planted them back in March. We had been having sun pretty regularly for a little bit so I figured it was time to get to planting. A couple days later, rain. From then until now, the end of May, we've had a week of cold/rain, a week of sun/warmth, a week of cold/rain, a week of sun/warmth, a week of... well, you get the idea!

Again, I had been watering every day, except for the days it rained. Then I let God water them for me. I figured he was giving me a break from that duty since He knew I had lots of other chores to attend to. That didn't end up being the case.

While Jake was recoving from his knee surgery his mom had been here at the house helping out. She and I got to talking out front by the plants and she gave me some tips on how to water more effectively. I needed to be watering slower water and for longer time so the water has time to soak down into the dirt and stay nice and wet. Sure the plants got water when I watered each day before, but I was only watering the top of the soil. The plants need the water to go deeper into the dirt. After only 2 days of good soaking... the plants were already growing! 2 days!!! Each day I could literally see them getting bigger.

Who knew?! OK, probably a lot of people. I had figured I was doing something else wrong since I had been watering each day and nothing was really growing. Now that I've been regularly watering the amount the plants need I've been getting fabulous results. Shyla and I have already been snacking on the peas. This year I planted purple and white eggplant, green, red, and orange bell peppers, straight and crooked neck squash, cucumbers, which are all in the square to the right. The tree is an avacado tree given to us by friends from church who had to move away :( Next to the avacado tree are tomatos, plus there are 2 more tomato plants in the planter boxes behind them on the porch. In front of the tomatoes are 3 melons, 1 watermelon and 2 cantelopes. Past all that is a square that has string beans in the front half and snap peas in the back half. Way to the left of the garden are 2 trees that we removed from a house we were working at. I don't have 100% faith that they are going to work. Actually, the tangerine tree on the right looked in worse shape than the lemon tree on the right, but even though it's small, the tangerine tree still has leaves and little flowers and buds... like it might actually bear fruit! We had a pot that's been empty since we moved in, it "came with the house", that's been sitting in the backyard ever since. I brought it out front and put it by the garage with an Armenian cucumber planted in it. Never had an Armenian cucumber, but I like regular cucumbers, so this one should be good too. If I'm not mistaken, the Armenian type is the one that's skinny and really long.

Here is to the start of something really good, I can taste it! The current size of the cucumber is about as long as a dime, but babies start out small too and they get bigger, so I'm looking forward to what the future will bring me. I'm also starting to get string beans. They look like little tiny ropes right now.

Self-Cleanup

I must be doing something right to have Shyla following in my footsteps. This girl LOVES chips and salsa. This was the end result after she ate some (about a whole bowl full) of my homemade salsa. She comes running into the room I was in and says, "Mommy, I spilled something". When she was talking to me I saw some salsa on her shirt so I figured that's what she was referring to. So I told her to go to the kitchen table, get a napkin, and clean it up. When I go into the kitchen this is what I see. The story I got was the she spilled salsa and she got a napkin to clean it up. I had to do a little touchup and a wet cloth, but she got all the big pieces cleaned up on the napkin. Good girl! Now if I can just get her to use the garbage can.

Sprinklers

We were excited when we moved into this house because it had grass in the front yard with sprinklers. Well, we were excited for several reasons, but the sprinklers in the front were one of the things making it exciting. However, the sprinklers didn't work... or so we thought.

Fast forward to just over a month ago. We were out front watering the veggie garden and hanging out discussing what we wanted to do with the yard landscaping wise. We said why don't we try to turn the valve on the water spigot "just to see what happens". And to our surprise... the sprinklers turn on! We originally counted 4 sprinklers, but were taken aback when there were actually 6. We did a little cleaning of a couple of them, had to dig a couple out of the grass around it, but there were 6. After we turned the valve off 2 of the sprinklers kept leaking. We didn't know that they were leaking until after Jake had his surgery and wasn't able to do anything to fix them. I discovered they were leaking when I saw 2 SUPER GREEN patches of grass. I'm talking nice, thick, plush grass.

We needed to add valves to the watering system and run some new wire that had been cut into the garage, so Jake did a little digging and was able to make it happen. It looks good and so does the graass now that we're able to water regularly. For the last 2 years we've been here, watering the front lawn consists of me running a sprinkler and moving it every so often, standing there watering it by hand, or using a soaker hose that I also have to move every so often. None of which was particularly entertaining to me, which is why last year I just let the lawn die. It was too much work to keep it even a little green.

Peek-A-Boo

I wish I could remember learning and playing the simple games in life like Peek-A-Boo. I love seeing a childs face light up when you move your hands away, as if it was really that easy to "disappear". Jacob's an observer. He likes to watch you play the game. But recently, he started playing back... sometimes. He's getting to that "copycat" age and it's fun to do things to see if he'll do it too.It is SO CUTE playing peek-a-boo with Jacob. When you cover your face, he covers his too. Only he puts his hands to the side of his head like in the picture. It's all about perception. I love watching little kids learn perception. We often take our abilities for granted. It can't be any more obvious than watching a baby grow. We aren't born knowing how to think, how to reason, with perception, how to stand, have strength, or when the proper time is to laugh. All these things we are taught. I'm speaking for all of us here, but I believe that we often forget that even with the smallest task, without instruction, we wouldn't know how to do it.

And yes... I got all that from playing peek-a-boo with my son!

Mixing Colors

With Shyla out of preschool for several more months, my plan was for a couple days a week so do preschool type stuff with her. Learning numbers, letters, tracing, cutting, etc. So far, it's only been about 1 day a week, but it's better than nothing! This weeks lesson was on mixing colors. I'm sure afterwards she was throughly confused, but it was fun nonetheless.

I don't remember all the art activities I used to do with my mom and I'm not so sure Shyla will either. But I do remember getting to spend time with my mom. Playing games, drawing, coloring, etc. It's the time spent that I remember the most. I hope that Shyla will one day look back fondly when remembering me and be glad of the time she got to spend with me! What do you think the chances are she'll look back fondly during her preteen/teenage years????? :-)
It's a little hard to tell from the pictures, but the colors were supposed to be purple, green, and orange. I had 3 little bowls with water. We colored 3 pages. One page had red + blue = purple, another had yellow + blue = green, and the last one had red + yellow = orange. I used a couple drops of food coloring to show how the colors mixed. Shyla enjoyed stirring the bowls and got very excited when it was time to fingerpaint with the colors on a napkin. She's too smart for her own good. I really have to be creative to keep her occupied and happy while doing an activity. She's VERY INDEPENDENT so I must be careful. Creating activties for her is becoming more fun for me. I'm not the most creative person when it comes to stuff like this so I read and ask around for different ideas.

Soon to come: edible playdoh!

May 15, 2010

Camera Settings

So Jake bought me this expensive camera a couple years ago for Christmas.

And each year for Christmas he buys me some cool camera stuff. Lenses, umbrellas, flashes, etc.

Problem is... I haven't had much time to learn how to use it! I mean I get a few minutes here and there. But I'm usually with the kids so I'm running around having to stop every little bit to take care of something. If I'm lucky enough to get out with the camera and without the kids, it's only a short time before I have to get back to them. I need like hours at a time to play with the settings. To get used to different lighting and when and how to use the different settings my camera has to offer.

In the meantime, Jake bought me the Canon's EOS For Dummy's book which has been very helpful. Recently, I've been practicing with shutter speed.

The first photo shows what a shutter speed of what 1/4000 looks like and the second one is 1/20. It's no rushing waterfalls of Yosemite, which I'm hoping one day to shoot, but for now I am settling with the "waterfall" from our spa to the pool. The first shot with Shyla on the slide is at 1/250 and the second one is 1/25.
I'm only guessing that the lighting was somehow different (even though they were taking a few minutes apart) as to why in the water picture, to get the non-blurry shot I used 1/4000, but for the slide shot, it was at 1/250. See? Those are the things I need time to decipher and learn. I also would love to take a photography class for this camera, but none have been offered at a time I have been able to go.

A fun shot of our ceiling fan at 1/20. I have some ideas of taking pictures on an overpass of the moving cars below, having Shyla spin (as she LOVES to do) and taking a "downward" shot of her, among some other ideas. I'll post when I am able to get them.

Lee's BBQ

One of Jake's Reserve buddy's contacted me and said that he wanted to come over to make Jake (and me) dinner since Jake's still sort of laid up and can't really do too much. So for a couple weeks we schemed and planned what to have for dinner. It was hard to pick a day when his roommate, himself, and our family all had the same day/time available. We settled on Friday, May 14th.

Lee makes some mouthwatering tri tip and that's what he was going to make for dinner. Tri tip with BBQ'd corn, and roasted garlic mashed potatos. His tri tip is so tastey and moist, there is no need for steak sauce of any kind.

He is the one who made the tri tip and spaghetti sauce for this years Concord Police Associations Crab Feed. SO GOOD!

We hung out for a bit when they got here. Heated up the BBQ and chatted while the food cooked. When he showed up, Jake says, "Hi, were you in the area?" Yeah, Jake, everyone like to tour around good 'ol Antioch! I told Jake that I wanted him to BBQ so he spent the day getting the propane tank filled and cleaning the BBQ. Little did he know...

Thanks again Lee for the mouthwatering tri tip dinner!