Winter Beach Days

SoCal winter beaches can be a lot like NorCal summer beaches, therefore I love them just as well. Here we are at Crystal Cove in SoCal wintery weather.

Kate has my beach personality:

Be afraid of everything...

...and run from giant waves.

J/K. They were actually very small.

"I've seen bigger waves in a toilet, bro."

*This North Shore quote was brought to you by Adam

Zach has his dad's beach personality:

Be afraid of nothing.

Finally, Katelyn got a little adventurous.

Daddy had to come rescue her.

As we were leaving, the sun came out.

It was a nice photo op.

Happy Birthday Mom!

We wish you were here!!

!!!

Thanks mom!!

The Night Before Christmas

Decorating Christmas Trees:

Mine

Katelyn's

(cloudy with a chance of candy!)

Grandpa's Christmas Message

Merry Christmas Eve!

I Finished!!

This cross-stitch just about killed me. December has been a mad dash to finish this thing. Remind me NEVER to cross-stitch again. It is the most boring waste of time ever. This cross-stitch is the reason my house has been a disaster this month, the reason I feel like I haven't seen the light of day, the reason my mind was in a stupor by day and vividly dreaming by night, and the reason I quit my blog for a bit (thanks Emily for getting me going again!). I was so stressed to get it done. One night, when my brain was particularly burnt out from stitching, I thought I might be having a brain hemmorhage, or heart failure or something, and I thought: How lame would that be to die by cross-stitch. Needless to say, I'm glad that part is over, and I hope Katelyn treasures this stocking forever (and never spills anything on it)!

Today I am sewing!

Wish me luck!!

(I'm not very good at it.)

From Me To You Giveaway!!

Aren't I so festive with my copy of Handel's Messiah in the background? Anyway, for the holidays I am giving away two McDonald's Hot Chocolates! How fun! FYI, they are only valid at participating restaurants in Utah, and parts of Nevada and Wyoming. (Trust me, if I could use them here in California I already would have.) If you live in those areas or might be headed that way, leave a comment before midnight on New Year's Eve and you just might win. Yay! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Love, Dana

Things That Made Me Laugh Today

I laughed when I got a message from my mom that she was in Forks, WA, home of teenaged vampire romance, and that she just saw Jacob run across the road...whatever that means. I didn't even know she was out of town. I want pictures.


I laughed when I walked in the room and Katelyn announced "Look, mommy! I'm coloring with Zachy!" At first I didn't laugh. I said "Awww, that's nice!" I laughed when I noticed that she had only allowed him to color with the white crayon (because it wouldn't show up) and she was hoarding all the other colors away from him.


I laughed during "The Sing-Off" when Ben Folds played piano with his elbows and stepped on the keys. It was awesome!


I laughed when Jeff Bridges told this joke on Leno:


"What is invisible and smells like worms?"


While you ponder that question, here is a pic of Katelyn hoarding the coloring crayons.

Okay, back to the joke.

Q: What is invisible and smells like worms?

A: A bird fart!

Adam also laughed at that one, and then we called our friends to re-tell it.

Fun times!

KidArt

Katelyn's pictures have been getting more creative and recognizable lately. Here are some favorites I recently found on her drawing table:

Spongebob and Patrick

(this one made me laugh, of course)

Caterpillar and Snowman

Life With Lemons

Problem: Zach's timeouts are only supposed to last a minute or two, but I kept losing track of time. Sometimes he would even fall asleep before I remembered he was waiting.

Solution: I bought a kitchen timer. It happens to be shaped like a lemon. I set it for a minute and it rings loudly when the time is up. Zach doesn't fall asleep.

Problem: Kids love the lemon timer. All kids. One day we took it to the park and everyone ended up playing games with the lemon...ignoring the play equipment!

Here's when I knew we had a problem:

One day Katelyn came up to me with the lemon in hand asking, "Mom, can I pleeeeeeeease have a Time Out!?"

I smiled at her, surprised, and told her, "No. You only get time outs when you do something wrong."

"Oh," she said. Then she looked up at me sheepishly and half-heartedly hit me on the leg.

This time I laughed. "Okay, go have a time out."

"Thanks, mom. Don't forget the lemon timer!" she called, as she ran off to her bedroom.

Hmmm...I think my lemony solution has become an even bigger problem.

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I didn't sit on your lap this year, but I hope you still got my Christmas wish. Every night and day I dream of playing Beatles Rock Band. I picture myself drumming along with Ringo to songs like Help!, Twist and Shout and Come Together. I dream of harmonizing with John and Paul to songs like In My Life, The Magical Mystery Tour, Hey Jude and I'll Follow the Sun. George, I don't really dream of being you, but I am looking forward to Something.

Santa, I hope you make my Christmas dreams come true. I've tried to be really good this year.

Love, Dana

P.S. Katelyn really wants a Mulan princess doll and I think Zach wants an Elmo, but I'm sure you already knew that.

Merry Christmas!

My Baby

This is the tale of a haircut...

Littleman's hair was getting long. I wouldn't say it was girlishly long, but on more than two occasions strangers had commented on my "baby girl". I thought that was odd when he was wearing carpenter pants, pirate shirts and called Zachary, but whatever. Anyway, that's not even why I cut his hair, because it doesn't bother me much that a few unobservant strangers thought he was a girl. I was inspired by CJane, who cut off her sons hair because she wanted to see her baby again. I realized how fast Zach has been growing. I had never thought of it before, but could a simple haircut really give me back my baby boy? It seemed like a long shot, but I decided to give it a try. For the record, Adam and I both think the short cut actually makes him look older. Darn!

Here Zach is trying to wipe the hair off his tongue. Good luck with that!

It is a cardinal rule among husbands and children that haircuts go better with the TV on.

(This is the scene where Nemo says "I hate you." I get this look a lot from Zach. Nemo didn't really mean it, though. Neither does Zach. I can tell by all his drooly kisses.)

Here is my photographer/water-squirter taking a self-portrait.

Kate is in the background waiting to squirt something.

The End.

Occulus Repairo?

The Harry Potter glasses are broken.

This pic reminds me of one of those commercials where everyday scenes look like happy faces. Except this face would be sad. :(

Does anybody out there know a simple spell that would fix them?

Or perhaps you own a mini-welder?

Either one would be fine. Thank you.