General family update

Why is it that I can't seem to keep this blog updated? For some reason it always gets pushed to the last thing on my list. Don't get me wrong, the iPhone app helps because I can - and have - updated my blog while children are playing at the park or I'm doing cardio cool down at the gym (how sad is that). So what's going on in my family.....hum.....

We spend Monday afternoons with my mom and grandma in the Bay Area. They have pretty big garden area in their yard that has good soil - unlike the red clay soil here. How do I know it is good soil? Well, my kids go "worm hunting" with their grandmother. Nicholas likes to pick out the worms and hold them on his arm. Abby picks the worms and tries to eat them. It is really gross. I didn't get to her in time and she ate one the other day and I was so grossed out I brushed her teeth before I would let her cuddle with me again. She's such a tomboy.

Nicholas still likes his stuffed animals. Currently, Donald the Dragon is the favorite. He has to have him "cuddled" around him before he will get ready for bed or do quiet time (which lasts all of 10 minutes). Thanks to my sister, Nicholas names his animals with the same letter they start with: Donald the Dragon, Petunia the Penguin, Harold the Hippo.....and so forth. The only exception is Puck the Duck - and don't make him say that one fast.

My grandmother isn't doing so great - she's getting up there in years and cancer has taken a toll on her body. She doesn't always remember everything, but she does her best. I know she loves me and I treasure every moment I have spent with her. I'm still losing weight - not as much as I was. Partially that's because I'm not with a trainer anymore and partially because, with sick kids and Abby's medical stuff, I haven't been able to be at the gym as much. I'm still hoping to lose more before I wear shorts this summer. Jon's doing well. He's on jury duty this week - and for 2-3 more weeks. We shall see. He works before and after jury duty, so he's busy. And the kids keep him on his toes - they love their father and once he comes home I could be holding cookies and they would still ignore me. The letter A key is broken on my keyboard and it is making it hard to type. One of my favorite games is Boggle, and so I know how hard it is when you don't have letter E in the game, but letter A never made much of a difference, until I am trying to type a blog post without a working letter A key. Now it seems that every word has an A. Even though I know that isn't true. I hope everyone is doing well. Hope on over to our homeschool blog to see what else we are up to - www.wunderfulhomeschool.blogspot.com.

Placer Nature Center

So the Place Nature Center runs these parent/child exploration classes on some Saturdays. We decided to go for a family activity. We had a blast.

It was not a crowded place. It has lots to do and even ha hiking. If it had been a bit warmer it would've been better. But the kids ran around, played with tadpoles, explored the watershed exhibit, saw a beehive, played in a hummingbird garden, and we hiked. We also had the volunteers reading stories and helping the kids play with tadpoles.

It is almost big enough for a full day. But you would have to bring lunch and hike the longer trails. We stayed for two hours. We would've stayed more but the soles on my hiking boots fell off so we couldn't hike anywhere.

As an added bonus, they have real bathrooms! And a bunch of picnic tables. We really enjoyed it and will be back for their April class.

Orange picking

Monday afternoons are now spent at my mother's house. We keep my grandmother company, I cool and do chores, and get more accomplished in a few hours there then I do in a whole week at home. And yes, I have my kids with me and I have to watch them while I'm working. I guess motivation matters for how I accomplish things.

So today we needed to do some stuff in the yard because my grandmother wanted us to. My job is simply to do what my grandmother says. Which is what I did.

My kids meanwhile picked oranges. They also dug in dirt and transplanted strawberry plants with their grandmother (a note to my sister - make your husband get more strawberry plants. Those are not going to make it!). Abby at a worm. Nicholas held a ton of worms and carried them to the "worm club" he made out of wet dirt so they could all play together.

A very good afternoon. Oh yeah, I will also be cleaning the rub where my children are currently on their third set of brown water. Who knew so much dirt could reside on them. I told my mom we should've made them strip and hose them off before bringing them in. But she decided that particular form of torture was too much for her precious grandchildren. I do it all the time at our house :)