Ballerina Girl

Probably from the moment I learned Snook was a girl, I dreamed about the day I'd take her to her first ballet lesson. (I'd take Bubs too, but have you met my husband?) Maybe I am more excited about this than most because ballet was my all-time favorite extracurricular from the time I was four-years-old until around early high school, with a college class or two thrown in for good measure.

Well, I've been hyping up the ballet thing so much that for the past three months or so, Snook has been telling everyone that when she turns three she'll get to eat peanuts (overly cautious pediatrician), drive a car (at the Legoland driving school), and --- take ballet. That day is finally here! She starts a pre-ballet class in about a week, which of course was a great excuse for my mom and me to go shopping last weekend. Boy was my poor mom fighting back the waterworks the whole time BTW. The "passing of the torch" was her sentimental comment, I believe.
Anyway, these are Snook's ballet slippers.
These are her ballet tights.
And she got a few of these sweet little ballet leotard/skirt combos in pink, yellow and lavendar.
We've also been mentally preparing ourselves with nightly readings of the adventures of Angelina Ballerina.

Stay tuned for pictures of Snook at her first class. Just watching her twirl around the house in anticipation, I already feel like such a proud stage mom. She says she's going to close her eyes when she dances, which I think is a good sign that she's in the zone. Either that or she will be extremely clutzy! Only one cure for that. More ballet lessons!

Picture This

A looooong time ago, I came across this post on Jora's blog and had one of those now-why-didn't-I-think-of-that moments. The topic was family photos and how to display them without cluttering every square inch of surface area in your home with frames. The solution I pounced on, offered by way of Domino, was to simply tack your photos up on a bulletin board in a casual, collage kind of way.

Like this! Just my style! So I convinced the H to run over to an office supply store with me in search of a bulletin board. Unimpressed by the selection of bulletin boards we found though, we opted instead for six 12X12 inch cork boards, which we then mounted on the wall in a kitchen-tile-type configuration.

And tada! My interpretation of the Domino family photo display. In its current iteration. It has been updated several times over the past few months, including recently serving as our holiday photo card display area. But that's the beauty of it. It's multi-purpose and it's easy up, easy down. Better still, no more agonizing over which photos are frame-worthy, or worse still, which frames to buy and where the heck to put them all. Picture this problem solved!

Double Take No. 4

Same towel. Same changing table. Same post-bath squeaky clean grins. It's even a little hard to tell S 'n' B apart in these pictures.

Clean Baby Snook

Clean Baby Bubs

And here they are after this evening's bath.



Would you look at that? They still like to dry off in matching towels!

One and Done

I'm really loving my most recent beauty purchase, MD Skincare All-in-One Tinted Moisturizer. Stuff provides just the right amount of light, even coverage without that cakey foundation feeling. And you've got the moisturizer and sunscreen built right in there. It helps out with those dark undereye circles too. Most days, this and a swipe of lip gloss is all I need. And more importantly, all I have time for. "All-in-One" and then you're done. Works for me!

Bow-nanza, Part 2

More gorgeous handmade bows showed up from Grandma today! Color me so impressed and so excited to doll Snook up in these.
There's a cat detail in the center of the purple one on the left.
Lots of dots!Flowers and doodad embellishments galore.

McFun For All

Marcy and I had the best of intentions for our rainy day playdate a little while back. We packed healthy snacks for the kids and planned to meet at one of those popular indoor playgrounds they have around town. No cabin fever for our crew.

Except that when we met up at this particular indoor playground, it turned out to be nothing more than a vacant space in a strip mall that some enterprising entrepreneur had rented out, filled with a bunch of ho-hum toys, and then set out to charge parents $8.50 per kid for the privilege of playing there. Such a racket. Oh, and it cost $2.00 extra to buy socks, which for some reason were required, and which for various reasons our two olders were not wearing.

So where did we find ourselves instead? Down the road a little ways at a place you may have heard of . . . Where there was a Playland that the kids enjoyed so much, Marcy and I found ourselves wondering why exactly we keep shlepping off to Legoland every chance we get. They seriously could not get enough of this place. See!




Oh, and the best part was, this Mickey D's was a McCafe.
They're brewing up some serious heaven in a cup at that there fast food joint. Happy kids. Darn good coffee. And the kids enjoyed milk, chicken nuggets, apple slices and French fried potatoes (they sound healthier when you call them that). Just one thing left to say . . .

Again, Again

Don't know what it is about this book, but my little guy keeps dragging it out for me to read to him over and over again. He can't seem to get enough of me pulling the tabs and making the little sea creatures appear and disappear. But I mean, come on. I think by now we all know who's hiding in the sea. If anyone can recommend some other good tab books, I'm all ears! Thanks much!

My [Fill in the Blank] Valentines

Giggly
Bossy
Pouty
Happy
Scary
Wacky
Funny

Happy Valentine's Day!

Bow-nanza!

Look at these gorgeous hairbows Snook's grandma whipped up for her this past week. These could easily go for $8.50 a pop, don't you think? Now Snook is all set for Spring and Summer. She'll be set for life if she inherited some of these crafty genes. Here's hoping!

Brotherly Love

I about died laughing when I saw the Valentine's Day card Snook dictated for her brother at preschool this past week.



There's nothing Snook hates more than when Bubs does his bulldozer impression over one of her painstakingly precise princess lineups. Or so I thought. Turns out this is his most endearing quality in big sis's eyes. And this was no fluke. Snook's teacher said she worked very hard on her valentine. Oh well. I'm sure their relationship will yield many more mysteries that even I, their own mother, will never be able to unfold. And that's just fine with me.

Perfection

How effortlessly glamsual did the adorable Emily look today? I know originality is where it's at, but I'd like nothing more than to copy this look from head to toe. Especially the toe part.
Did you see the shoes? Perfection at its most perfect.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can

I'm proud to say I've been a member of my college alumnae book club's San Diego chapter for about four years now. Thanks to this club, I've read some fantastic books I never would have picked up otherwise. And even more thankfully, this is how I met one of my dearest girlfriends (and most faithful blog-readers), Amy. As Amy can attest, we both stuck with book club through our first pregnancies and even throughout the birthing and early parenting of our first-born daughters (only 5 weeks apart!). Why, we even brought our girls (and our Hooter Hiders) with us to a couple of meetings. But after baby #2 came along for both us, well, there went book club. Until now! The March book club date is on my calendar.

This book is on my night stand. And Jora's reminder is fresh in my mind. I am going to read this book, and Amy and I are going to our book club meeting in March. Or at least I hope so. Marcy, are you in? Strength in numbers, people. Choo choo!

Renewed

I finally renewed my subscription to Riviera Magazine. Can't wait to get back "in the know." At least as close as a thirty-something, mother of two from San Diego, okay Escondido, can get to being "in the know." Hey, as Coco Chanel once said, no matter who you are or where you're from, “A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.” Or at least die trying.

Smart Art

Everyone knows how expensive framed art can be. Both the frame and the art will set you back quite a ways. Well, last summer, one of my favorite children's stores of all time, ZuZu's Petals, fell victim to these hard economic times and announced they were closing their doors. And selling their doors. Okay, maybe not their doors, but everything, and they did mean everything, had to go. So sad. This is a place that held weekly story times on a beautiful braided rug, kept flower pots on the back porch with children's names on them so they could water their seedlings whenever they stopped in, offered a basket of sidewalk chalk at the entrance for kids to decorate the walkway with, and sponsored Easter egg hunts on the front lawn. Such a loss. So I felt like I needed something to remember this charming place by, and I can't pass up a bargain, so I ran over. And when I saw this on the wall . . .

. . . I knew I had to have it for the nursery. Especially at the rock bottom price of $20. As it turns out, however, this may not necessarily have been such a bargain. Because, would you believe it, this isn't a print. It's framed wrapping paper! How smart is that?! Just find a sheet of wrapping paper you like at a nice stationery store, pop it in a frame you happen to have laying around, and voila! Framed art! Had to share this great idea.

I also couldn't resist this little bistro table and folding chairs set where Snook sometimes chose to sit during story hour.

Bubs enjoys sitting there too now. Still mourning the loss of that place.

Love Him Like a Rock

There are at least two or three songs I can think of right off the bat that are perfect father/daughter dance songs for a wedding. Not so with the mother/son dance. Hard to think of any actually. But my Bubs better ask me to dance at his wedding. If he's so inclined. To get married. I already know he loves to dance. Not sure why I'm thinking ahead like this except that I heard the perfect song for us on the radio the other day (even if it is supposedly about Nixon). It's Paul Simon's "Loves Me Like a Rock." The melody is pure joy and the chorus says it all. Take a listen.



"Loves Me Like A Rock"

PAUL SIMON

When I was a little boy
And the devil would call my name
I'd say "Now who do...who do you think you're foolin'?"
I'm a consecrated boy
A singer in a Sunday choir

Oh Mama loves me, she loves me
She get down on her knees and hugs me
Oh she loves me like a rock
She rocks me like a rock of ages
Oh loves me
She love me, love me, love me, love me

When I's grown to be a man
Hmm, and the devil would call my name
Say "Now who do...who do you think you're foolin'?"
I'm a consummated man
I can snatch a little purity

My Mama loves me, she loves me
She get down on her knees and hugs me
Oh she loved me like a rock
She rocked me like a rock of ages
She loves me
She love me, love me, love me, love me

If I was the President
Hmm, and the Congress call my name
I'd say now "Who do...who do you think you're foolin'?"
I've got the Presidential Seal
I'm up on the Presidential Podium

Mama loves me, she loves me
She get down on her knees and hugs me
Oh she loved me like a rock
She rocked me like the rock of ages
She loves me
She love me, love me, love me, love me

I Want to Go to There

Just when my Mad Men withdrawal symptoms were starting to subside, look who showed up on 30 Rock last night!!!



The Don! The Draper! Except he's playing a divorced doctor in 2009. Who bakes and supports charitable causes. Come on! And from what I understand, this is a multi-episode deal. I know where I'll be the next few Thursday nights.

C-Man and Baby J Came to Play

When you have this much fun on a playdate, there's no choice but to have another one. If for no other reason than to get your older child to stop nagging you. But mostly because this is one cute foursome. C-Man and Baby J, who need no introduction, came to play yesterday.

Here is Baby J, looking quite domestic.

With Bubs, the man of the house. I have to agree with Jora. This is a future match made in heaven.

C-Man took Snook for a spin around the yard.

And here they are, in a rare quiet moment, reading to each other. Not pictured, these two pushing each other's buttons like an old married couple.

The nagging for a repeat playdate began again right after we'd finished our good byes. But of course! Jora and I haven't quite figured out how to outsource the child care and incorporate the libations, but we're working on it.

Dinner for Two

Grown-up dinner got started off right the other night. With this delicious and unique take on the shrimp cocktail.

I'm sorry I don't have a recipe to share. Because I think the chef improvised. And the chef wasn't me. Which made it taste even better.
Family dinner is nice, but dinner for two is, nicer.