Thursday (7/31 ) Music at Rancho Los Cerritos

Have you checked out Rancho Los Cerritos (over by Virginia Country Club)? Music starts at 6pm. I'll be there with my little mutants and no partner at 5:30. I know there are other more local venues but this is one of only a couple musical nights at Rancho Los Cerritos all summer so a few of us are checking it out. Join us and eat before or bring a picknick. You know the drill. For info visit http://www.rancholoscerritos.org/calendar.html

Canadian enough for ya?

Could it get any more cliched than this?!?! Here are C and P, enjoying the Calgary Stampede with some Mounties in front of a teepee, wearing their finest cowboy gear (you can't see the boots). :) (Calgary is also known as Cowtown .... By the way, sometimes it actually feels more like Texas than a city in Canada, Mounties excepted, of course. Strange.)

Favorite Things

I just LOVE these! From Flip and Tumble.

fun things to do at home

Here's a fun craft I've been doing with the kids when its too hot to be outside, or we just want to veg out in the evening, and not turn on the tube.

Here's the canon site where instructions are in english (so start here), they have cute animals and an entire paper town (we've done lots of cars , the police station, & the little mouse on my mouse pad*) and here is the konica site where I got the house, instructions are in Japanese, but if I can figure it out, so can you!

I recommend the following supplies:

heavyweight cardstock

a ruler

an empty ballpoint pen (use this with the ruler to score the lines before folding)

a scrapbooking adhesive thingy

HAVE FUN!

* I covered the mouse pad (ugly plain green thing) with fabric Priscilla had given us as creative gift wrapping (talk about repurposing a couple times over). Let me know if you want instructions. It took all of ten minutes and now I like my mouse pad...

a difficult choice

It saddens me to say that we have to get rid of our two cats. We adopted them at the age of 2 mo. in Dec. We discovered, much too late, that Reece is allergic. He is having to be medicated daily and finally I am making a decision for his health instead of his heart. He is devastated. 

They are approximately 9 mo old, one male, one female, (brother/sister) both fixed. They only had one round of vaccinations before we adopted them. They are indoor cats. 

They are sweet, social, playful cats. The male likes to fetch. He will bring you a toy and retrieve it over and over again until you tire of the game. The female will cuddle up in you lap any time... So, if you are interested or know someone who is, please let me know. Thanks.

Made it to Calgary!

Well, we made it to the Great White North and finally have the Internet! I'm still processing our camping trip up, but we survived, and did see some pretty cool things along the way.

I'm trying to adjust to returning to the Motherland ... I think it is going to take a while! More soon. I MISS LONG BEACH!!!

Thank you to everyone for the well wishes and gift cards! We miss everyone. I hope I can stay connected with the help of email and the Internet.

a little help?

Mammas...if you are bored...check out my blog at http://www.tangarangblog.blogspot.com/...

I could sure use a critique of product photos...

thx..kfk

Last Minute Play Date

Meet us tomorrow, Monday, July 21st at 11:00am... "Splash Pad" at Sigler Park in Westminster is FREE!!!

Back From and extended Vacation

Hi all well This is my first post so I hope all goes well. As many of you know I have been on a road trip for the last three weeks with the family. I have been inspired by Kira to relay pros and cons of traveling with kids to visit family.
I will start out positive from the kids point of view:
Getting to ride in the very large tractor with Unlce Mark, Driving the John Deere mower yourself on a 40 acre farm, fishing with dad at the river, riding a horse without having to sign a waiver, then being able to go into the pen with two yearling horses that follow you around like a puppy dogs, Setting off fireworks that are very illegal in CA, visiting a construction sight for a dam and climbing on the very large equipment, and Meeting all the "new"cousins that you might have met last year.
On the Downside:
Illness, Louis started vomiting before a 6 hour drive and then Konrad started vomiting with one hour left on the drive, then the fevers started for two days. Daddy then caught the bug and was out of commission for two days. Walking on eggshells to make sure that large family fights do not start. Having your husband and mother give each other the silent treatment for two days with a 10 hour drive as part of the treat. Packing and doing laundry then repeating. Eating traveling food and not getting all the veggies and fruits. Having everyone off schedule with time changes back and forth and so much excitement that you cannot wind down. With the lack of schedules come the enormous Tantrums in hotel rooms, in front of the whole extended family, and in the car. Weather that causes your plans to be canceled and have very disappointed kids.

Through all of this I think that the memories we have had on this trip will last the us a lifetime. This being said we are leaving in one week to start a new adventure. I wonder what new adventures we will have.

Nonviolent Parenting is here!

Hi Friends,

I am so excited to announce that we (Julia Bongard and myself) have set a time and place for Nonviolent Parenting education series. This is a 10-week series of classes about connecting with our children in an unconditional way, while guiding emotional intelligence, setting limits, learning about child development and brain development. 

We will be at First Congregational Church (3rd & Cedar) starting Wed, Sept. 3 at 6:30PM. 

If you have questions, please feel free to respond here, or to my email address tovanonviolentparenting@yahoo.com or call me at 562-422-8623.

Hope to see you there.

Mom's Night July

Ok, planning another escape from the kids, I mean Mom's Night Out! Lets do it Wednesday, July 30th 6:30PM at East Side Mario's Italian restaurant - 4771 Candlewood St, Lakewood. 

Hope to see you there.

Tova

Back from HELL, I mean VACATION!

My view from prison, I mean my room (nice huh?)

"The Lodge at Pebble Beach on San Juan Island" where we stayed

Here are some highlights from a trip I thought would be bad, but turned out to be worse...

1. Father-in-law insisting it was OK to take my children for two hours on the freeway without (YES WITHOUT) car seats. And he did...

2. Getting stung by nettles

3. Tiff with my mother-in-law at the dinner table with the Grand-in-laws (these are the people who's family spawned the American Girl series and Walgreen's) when she told Max he needed to eat everything on his plate (after he had politely asked "May I be excused?"), I said firmly that no he did not need to finish everything on his plate. His Granny insisted "Max, you need to finish your plate or you'll get hungry in the middle of the night." To which I replied "No, Max, you do not need to eat it all, you know when your tummy's full." which was met with FIVE minutes of silence (ooohhh that was fun!)

4. Being put in a room in the basement with my daughter when she was "tantruming" because she had been told she could paint, but only outside and only with this brush but not with these paints (which were for Granny only) and only on this paper and make sure not to get any on the table...at least the basement had a nice view.

5. My husband being told "No, we cannot watch the children while you and Kira go out to dinner because we cannot deal with the sibling teasing and besides, Granny is exhausted"

6. Being put into a bedroom with walls of windows on the north and EAST sides of the house with NO curtains or blinds of any kind in a location with about SIX HOURS OF DARK, so yes, my children went to bed at 10:30pm and awoke at 4:30am...boy were they in good moods by 9:00am.

So all in all, a productive trip.

7. Oh, and it took 12 hours to get there....weeeeee

OK, thanks for letting me vent...that feels better! aaahhhh....

Last Minute Hook Up?

Hey, Beautiful Ladies...I am off work today (Monday, 7/14) and looking to do something fun with my kids and my long lost friends.

I am up for a trip to the bay, my aunt's pool, a movie...what ever! Anyone want to do something last minute? Call me 562-980-2946...

Grace

Do we have a category for VENTING?

No...ok, I'll go first (I know, you're all SO surprised)!

I just want you all to think of me, potentially being eaten by a wayward orca, on my daily kayak venture during my vacation (scary music please) with...duhn duhn duuuhnnn! the in-laws...

...and no Brenda I am not afraid SHE will see this...and if she does, I burned any rickety bridges long long ago...

I'm heading to the San Juans tomorrow BY MYSELF WITH MY CHILDREN (have you met them?); and no, the San Juans are NOT in Mexico as one might hope, but (more scary music)...in...Canada, how much does that suck? (sorry Heather!)

Anyhoo, just so y'all enjoy your next week...picture this...me in a kayak with a jumbo-sized bright orange life vest (that I will be unceremoniously stuffed into by my docile father-in-law, rowing trying to keep up with my terribly ACTIVE in-laws. I will be waylayed by an overzealous orca. In all the shock and dismay of my ordeal I will order a GIANT whiskey something-or-other, but alas, the in-laws are fervent teetotalers and I will be offered a nice organic white-green-leaf tea farmed by tiny children off the coast of the Maldives (the only kind one can have you see)...

...and thus I will spend my next six days dreaming of you all shuffling the kiddies around in your giant mini-vans (oxymoron?), boiling over your partner's lack of laundry skills and wondering if quesadillas are the sixth level of the food pyramid...

WISH ME LUCK!

kfk

My Lifeline Crashed!

Okay, so it was just my computer... but it felt like the end of the world!

Yesterday, upon returning from a drippy-nose-encrusted-with-cat-hair weekend in Green Valley Lake at my dad's house, I found out that my computer was no longer working. AHHH! I'm sure most of you know just how much time I spend with my lover I mean Mac computer and how much I depend on it not only for my work but for my sanity. I spent a good 3 hours Sunday trying to repair the damage - first by myself, then on the phone with Andy #1 and and hour later with Andy #2 from the Mac help line.

At about 5:30pm the second Andy finally realized that he could do nothing and instructed me to take my computer in to have it serviced. WHAT!?! UNPLUG MY BELOVED AND DROP IT OFF SOMEWHERE?!? I was beside myself. I admit it. I cried. (although in my defense I am PMSing)

I immediately called the Mac store in South Coast Plaza and made an appointment for the following day, today. At promptly 11:30am, I wrestled my giant CPU into the Jeep along with the double stroller and the kids and hauled ass down to Costa Mesa. The parking gods were with me as I found front row parking next to the elevators at the "Crystal Court" (does that place have a different name now?). I set up the double stroller, had Jack sit in front, and loaded my $3000 dollar paperweight into the back - I had to stop myself from attaching the safety harness. Can anyone picture this in their heads?

I swear people were staring at me as I paraded my circus into the pristine white and silver Mac store filled with people in business suits and laptops. A nice employee in an orange shirt took pity upon me and unloaded my lead weight from the stroller onto the counter top. I waited for my name to be called. "Abby B.?" And as I approached this poor underpaid tech, I could see the panic on his face when he realized my circus was his next patient.

Wrapping up my long story here because I know that your time is precious and your children are screaming at you to stop playing on your computers and start making their mac and cheese, (or is that just mine I'm hearing?) this long drawn out story detailing the events of the last 24hours does indeed have a happy ending. And as I sit here typing my drama on my dearest most cherished I mean computer I want you all to know that when you drag your Apple computer into the Apple store, they fix it for free. No questions, no obligations, no fees of any kind. They just smile, push a few buttons, empathize and then offer to have the cute, young, burly man carry your 300 pound CPU back to the car.