Early to rise

There are times when I can't ask my family to help out with the girls every time I need them. They are always gracious and help out when I need them, but they all have lives and they need to live them. With basketball season starting there are a couple of times during the fall and winter when he's out of town and I need to get the girls off to school. But...I don't want to go in later (I start work at 7 a.m.) because I don't want to get off later. It's a dilemma that's for sure. One day a couple of weeks ago, I had to get the girls to their before school day care by 6:30 ... right when the place opened. I was so proud of them because they had to get by 5 and out the door before they are even usually awake. These are days when I just want to take them on a shopping spree or buy them an American Girl doll to say thanks. But, with Christmas coming up, they are going to have to settle for a big thank you and a hug. Plus, for Amy, being at the before school day care that Diana typically goes to after school was the thrill of a lifetime. She got to hang out with big kids, play with all the games and toys and crafts they have there. She was more than happy to get up early if that's where she was going to be for an hour in the morning.

Our version of family dinner time

Some families eat around the table every meal, every day. They believe that's the best time to catch up on one another's day, talk about what's going on in each other's lives and enjoy a little bit of quiet time that may not be the norm in their family. We've experimented with family dinner time. There are only a handful of times during the week when we are all at home together for a meal (usually dinner because I leave for work before the rest of the family is even out of bed in the morning) so we want to make the most of it and share our days. The sharing lasts a couple of minutes and then the entire focus of family dinner time shifts. One kid is complaining that she doesn't like what's for dinner. Another can't sit still and we are constantly watching to make sure she doesn't fall out of her chair. Then more complaints from ants in her pants that she now doesn't like what's for dinner. It's a stress that's not worth it. So, we don't eat together every night, every meal. It's totally OK to judge me or say I have no patience. When my kids are sitting at the dinner table together - just the two of them - they talk like they are best friends. They laugh recalling their day, share fun stories and, most importantly, they eat. Plates are clean, cups are empty and bellies are full. They are so busy talking and eating when it's just the two of them, they don't even realize what they are eating. It's a science experiment that proves me right every time - family dinner time (at least every night) is overrated. There are plenty of times when I can catch up with my kids day. But at the dinner table, I need them to concentrate and eat. So, I leave them be. I give them their privacy (like most kids want anyway) and let them have their space to eat on their own terms. But, I am listening and watching from the other room. I love the stories they tell, the whispers they think I can't hear and the giggling. This isn't going to last forever and honestly, the short time they are getting along, talking to one another and enjoying one another's company doesn't happen all the time so I am going to eat it up...so to speak.

A little motivation for hard work

Do I need to provide my kid with some motivation to do well in school and sports? Sometimes. Though they are young, my kids need a little extra push to remind them what's important and maybe help them prioritize. I've seen parents offer money as a reward for certain achievements - academic and athletic. Hit a home run, get $20. Get an "A", $20 goes into your piggy bank. My kid is not a professional athlete, or even a professional student for that matter, I'm not paying her for doing what she should be doing - getting good grades, helping the team by turning in a good individual performance. You work hard, you see results, you are rewarded with a good grade or a good athletic outcome. But we did recently try to light a fire under Diana's academic skin to help her prioritize and help her understand the importance of what she is doing at school. Fourth grade is tough. There is more homework, it's more intense, there are projects and it can be very stressful for a little person. To keep her motivated, we had to offer up a reward. She was promised an American Girl doll for her 10th birthday in June if she gets on the honor roll all year long. Now, keep in mind that her grades area already good. She's on track to make honor roll, but we all need a little motivation and incentive for the end result. Diana was excited about the prospect of finally getting a "real" American Girl doll. She's been working hard, studying well, paying attention in class and hopefully all of that will lead to a great end result. I'm OK with rewarding good things, when it comes as the result of hard work.

My extended Girl Scout family

There are few times when I get out of the house and spend some girl time to myself. I cherish every opportunity I have to mingle with friends, and just de-compress for a little bit. I attended our Girl Scout Service Unit meeting last week and it was a great chance to listen and be inspired by some of the other leaders we have in our area this year. I hope these new leaders are inspired by the veteran leaders and can take away some best practices from them. I've offered my phone number and email to new leaders in the past and they never called when they needed help coming up with ideas for meetings. A year later, their troop disbanded and they were done with Girl Scouts. I felt the most energy at this meeting than I have at previous Service Unit meetings. I really think that this year is going to be a great Girl Scout year...not just for my troop but for our whole area. One of Diana's friends has joined Girl Scouts for the first time this year and her mom is a leader. I've met her a couple of times and she's nice. I told her that she is more than welcome to call me if she ever needs ideas. I gave her some places where I've found great ideas (Pinterest being just one). I hope she calls if she ever feels overwhelmed or at a loss for a meeting activity. I don't like to consider myself a mentor, but I think us women and moms have to rely and count on one another. Oftentimes, women see each other as competition for everything - who can run faster, who can balance more, who can have more kids. With Girl Scouts, it's one troop vs. another during cookie season, but it doesn't have to be that way. It's silly really. We need to be on the same page, the same team. I hope that I can develop some friendships with these new leaders and have some "jam sessions" so to speak and bounce ideas off one another.

A family reunion to remember forever

Some people have friends who you can go years without seeing and when the time comes to reunite, you pick up where you left off. You talk about old times, you catch up on new times and nothing has changed. You might go another 20 years without seeing each other, only keeping up with one another on social media, but it's, again, like old times. I had a moment like that this weekend with family. My awesome mom put together a family reunion with both sides of my family - my mom's and my dad's. There are people on these two sides of the family that may have never met before, but there we were - in the same house, laughing together, asking each other how are families are somewhat intertwined. We all have something in common - my mom, dad, sister and me. I had the chance to have an awesome conversation with a cousin I hadn't seen in years. It's been so long since I'd seen her that her three youngest kids had no idea who I was. Sad really since I have a picture of my sister with her second oldest hanging in my house. Getting a chance to have mommy talk and wife talk with her (she's just a bit older than me) was amazing. I was so inspired talking to her because she's so calm, laid back and chill. I saw who I want to be as a mom. I wish I could be as laid back as her and never yell at my kids, but that just doesn't seem to be in the formula for the day. It was great to see other cousins who I only see on Facebook and who I just adore. It was great to see my aunts and uncles who live so far away and who I wasn't sure if they would be at this wonderful event. We have to cherish every moment we have with family. Whether they live under our roofs or not, we have to make the most of every day. We have to make positive memories that last forever. I will remember our little family reunion for a long time and hope that we can make it an annual thing. I hope that more family can come and share in the joy. I still can't believe that we stayed at my sister's house for more than 6 hours (part of that was because of the lengthy Giants game), but it was so wonderful. All the laughter, all the stories and all the catching up. If we only do it once a year, it will be worth it.

Thanks for the memories, alpacas!

It would be super easy to take the family to obvious outings on the weekend when we have a couple of hours to spare - the library, the Outlets, the bookstore are a couple of places we go and the girls have a great time. They are always up for a trip to any of these places. But when I saw that a couple of our local alpaca farms were opening their ranches to the public one weekend, I jumped at the opportunity to expand our horizons and do something a little different. The day was going to start with alpacas if I had anything to say about it. The girls didn't really question this decision. They didn't know what an alpaca was, they changed their outfits several times because they didn't really know how to dress for visiting a farm, but we eventually got there. I called Au Bob and Julia and they met us there...it's never too early for a baby to experience farm animals. The alpaca farm, Ahh...Sweet Alpacas, had about 40 alpacas on the ranch. There were already a ton of people there when we got there. The girls were able to feed the alpacas leaves and pet them. They are such friendly animals. If you don't have food, they want nothing to do with you. They literally ran away from us if we ran out of leaves. Diana had so much fun she kept running back to get more leaves without even asking us if she could. Amy had a harder time warming up to the alpacas, but we finally convinced her that the alpacas wanted her leaves, not her fingers. She finally got brave and got a kick out of feeding them. I took a ton of pictures but due to technical difficulties am unable to upload them. It's a memory that I won't forget. One hour at this place was a great time and I highly recommend it to anyone who has a chance!

Listen close, happy kids are nearby

Parenting becomes a lot easier when you stop and listen to your kids. I can put them in swim lessons, soccer, gymnastics and every sport and activity in between and they will always have a smile on their faces. It's hard to tell when they are unhappy. Most of the time though, they aren't begging us to enroll them in some of these activities. It just happens to be that time of year, we sign them up because we did it the previous year. I'm going to start paying attention and spend my money wisely - I'm going to invest my money in my kids. Diana loves to draw and doodle and says that she wants to be an art teacher when she grows up. She's been fortunate to have three teachers so far who have made art an integral part of their classroom curriculum. Maybe this is where her motivation comes from. Lord knows it's not genetic. Her cousin is quite the artist and has an art-related major at USF. Another cousin can play guitar and was in a band for a long time. If Diana really wants to pursue this art thing she needs practice and that starts with us. She can only do so much sitting at her table in the playroom. Unfortunately, there aren't many options for art classes in Vacaville. I found a place in nearby Davis that offers a Saturday art class for kids her age and it covers a wide variety of mediums. She starts the class in a couple of weeks and I'm excited to see where it leads. I'm sure she's going to learn a lot and have fun and that's the most important thing.

We love to sew and give!

We got to combine the best of two worlds the other day when we presented four homemade baby blankets to KinderCare, Diana and Amy's former daycare, as a thanks for the years of care they provided to our family. I sat down and taught Diana to sew (not that I am some great seamstress, but I can get away with the basics) not long ago and she proceeded to make her first blanket. I ran the idea by the girls that we should make some blankets for the baby room at KinderCare because I wanted to show my gratitude to them. The girls really liked the idea and I thought it would be a fun project the three of us could do together. I took the girls to the fabric store and they picked out the colors they wanted for two "boy" blankets and two "girl" blankets. They did a great job of picking out some cute, bright colored fabric. Once the fabric was washed and ready, Amy helped me pin the pieces of material together. Then, we let Diana at the sewing machine. I was amazed at how quickly she picked it up. She wasn't intimidated or scared (which I was when I first bought this machine three years ago). She also didn't get frustrated, which I definitely do with this machine on a regular basis. She's as natural behind the sewing machine as I am on the treadmill. :) It took us a couple of weeks to finish all the blankets, but we finally knocked two out in one afternoon on a weekend and delivered them to KinderCare this past Wednesday. The center director, who we have known for many years, and the staff in the baby room were thrilled. Some of the walking babies even came over to see the blankets when we hand-delivered them. This was such a great thing for my girls to be part of. I love teaching them about helping other people and thinking of others before ourselves and they have been very receptive. I am very lucky. I completely forgot to take a picture of the blankets...I can't believe it. But they are very cute and just the start of many wonderful things my girls are going to do behind the sewing machine!

The Greatest Night of Their Lives

Even though my kids are older now, there are still a lot of firsts that we encounter. A couple of weekends ago, we took the girls to the aquarium for the first time (Diana went when she was 14 months, but that doesn't count because she doesn't remember it). Firsts bring so much joy to parents because of the reactions, excitement and suspense that come with them. A woman at work gave me four free vouchers to Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey circus for Friday night so I immediately jumped on that. No matter that it was going to be a little stressful having to drive home from Sacramento after work, pick up the girls and drive back to Sacramento for the show. It was going to be worth it, I concluded. I remember going to the circus as a kid and it truly is the greatest show on Earth. But that was forever ago. I had no idea what I was getting myself, or my kids, into by going to the circus this past weekend. We got there just as the show was starting and the girls ran up the stairs to our seats. They were blown away with the lights and the singing and the performances. I could sit here and recount every performance, every moment and every "That was amazing!" that came out of Diana's mouth that night, but you would lose interest. The girls never took their eyes off the show and sat on the edge of their seats the whole time. Diana loved the acrobats - it was hard to see the trapeze artists from where we sat and we tried to move so we could see better to no avail. She thought it was awesome that one of the artists leaped off the swing, bounced on the net right back onto the swing. I've never seen her smile so big. She was screaming in amazement. Amy loved the animals - the elephants, the tigers, the leopard, the lion, the dogs. I could go on...there were plenty. The performing dogs were hysterical and the girls will never forget them. I could've done without the horses and the "acrobats" performing death-defying stunts on them. They are truly crazy and have a death wish. Why, then, could I not take my eyes off? Luckily that was at the end of the show and Amy had to go to the bathroom so we missed most of the "good stuff." Ringling Bros. has been around for decades and maybe even centuries and it will always be highly entertaining for families. I am so grateful for the generous people in the community that provided the vouchers and my kids for making me feel like an awesome mom for bringing them!