{ Ash Wednesday, Spring is Here! }

On the 16th of February, spring had sprung in San Diego. It was a rainy day, so we loaded up in search of fun. The line at the children's museum was out the door and in the rain, so we drove on. The line at the science museum was similar. But, the natural history museum had no line, so in we went. We never tire of this place and DS was interested enough to ask me, "mom, what does this one say?" several times that day.

Spring is finally popping out here. My favorite hill for taking orange and yellow wildflower pictures is not promising just yet. We'll wait and see. I really want to head for the Anza-Borrego desert to check out the bounty this spring. Hope we're not missing it!

{ Birthdays and Baseball }

Today we celebrated DD's birthday with two of her friends whom she has known since preschool. First, the girls enjoyed a lovely lunch complete with sparkling cider, toffee scones and chocolate dipped strawberries. Then our artists converged on the Painted Earth where each picked her favorite ceramic and painted the afternoon away. DD picked a heart shaped bowl. We retreated back to our chateau and played games the rest of the afternoon. Some friends joined us for dinner which consisted of tacos, rice, corn and squash. For dessert, we had strawberry shortcakes. The boys went fishing all day although no fish was harmed on this day.

Yesterday, DS finally had a baseball practice after being rained out for two weeks straight. The coach was very enthusiastic, practice lasted an hour and fifteen. So far, so good. The coach seems great and lots of dads were on the field assisting. I think it will be a good season.

{ What a Day! }

Today, I got out of bed, ate, dressed, got DD off to school, came home, reorganized DS's closet, painted the fireplace, took DS to school, volunteered in DD's class, walked home from school with the kids, supervised homework while cleaning up the kitchen, made dinner and published this post. I'm off to the bath now and then bed for all.

p.s. I also learned what fingernails are for. It's not really a bad cut, only the knife went right through the nail and bled. Could be worse, I love my fingers!

{ Happy Valentine's Day }

This is why Paul is my prince. He worked 12 hours today, went to mass and then came home to this pink-fest. He even said he loved the pink hot cocoa. Seriously. Wow.

Pink Hot Cocoa:

5 cups milk
3/4 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup strawberry syrup {see below}

{ put about a pint or maybe less strawberries in the blender and liquify. Strain into a saucepan and add, I don't know, about 1/2 cup or so sugar. Bring to boil.}

Combine ingredients and bring to soft boil stirring constantly until chocolate melts. Serve with whipped cream or marshmallows. Yummy.

{ Valentine's Party }

The kids' classes had parties yesterday for Valentine's Day. I spent the entire time at DD's class. It was fun! We had healthy snacks and then the kids were allowed to eat one candy about every half hour for a total of three candies. We could totally see the sugar kicking in. It was as good as a birthday party! And, by the way, she crashed at 7:45 p.m., I'm sure due to sugar low. Here's a pic of DD and some of her friends.

{ San Luis Rey de Francia mission }

Today we went to Carlsbad to run some errands. On the way home, we decided to stop at the mission that we've driven by so many times before. I'm glad we did! We toured the museum which had many beautiful artifacts that were hundreds of years old. We went into the church. Then we toured the grounds. It was a cold rainy windy day, and this was the perfect thing to do for a couple of hours. In the gift shop the kids met one of the ten Franciscan brothers living at the mission named Kelly. He was so funny, as soon as the kids walked in, he showed them a frog toy and asked them questions and talked with them. I wish more priests would be like that! He told us to come back at the end of April for earth day, it's free he promised!

{ We Love the San Diego Zoo }

The weather report for today was showers all day long. We were on our way to Balboa Park to visit museums on this wet day. There was blue sky when we got there, so we decided to go to the zoo first, just until the rain started. What a great idea! There were hardly any people there, the weather was perfect, and no rain all day long! The animals were active and there were lots of babies. Here's DD checking out the cute koala cub. There was also a baby meerkat, takin and tiger.

DS so excited to show us the porcupine. He likes to look at the sign and ask "Is it endangered, or does it lick?" Yes, he thinks endangered means dangerous. Today he was really worried about extinct. He said that if it was extinct, he didn't want to get anywhere near it. You know, the smell and all.

We caught the Legends and Lore show with this beautiful arctic wolf named Kenai. The audience howled, and he howled back. The kids adored him.

With three minutes to spare, we decided to catch the sea lion show. We hurried in and sat down in the fourth row. After an owl and andean condor both flew right over our heads, and yes, we ducked, the hostess asked for a brave, young volunteer. Two hands flew up along with all the other kids in the stadium. We couldn't believe it when she picked DS. In all the years we've been going to these shows, this was the first time one of our kids was picked! DS got to meet the sea lion named Jake. He got to hug him, which he did very gingerly, feed him fish, he loved that part, and got a big, long kiss from him at the end. The hostess gave him a magnet with a picture of the sea lion that says "I met a sea lion at the San Diego Zoo." He wouldn't let dad put that into the backpack for the rest of our trip! Very exciting!

On our way out we saw the rainbow which was the sign of a perfect day at the zoo without ever getting wet! What a wonderful day!

{ Attention Deficit Disorder }

Here is a LO I just did about DS Yesterday and today he had bad days at school. The teacher says that he is messing around when a parent helper is at his table instead of doing his work. I have to say that the work is very boring! Not nearly as fun as DD's kindergarten class was. Earlier this week, his counselor mentioned for the second time that he is showing ADD behaviours. Since he's only five and in kindergarten, she does not recommend testing. She says to wait until first grade and see how he does there. With all the changes and upset in kindergarten, it might just be an adjustment issue. His teacher thinks it's all deliberate and I'm getting the feeling she thinks he's a bad kid. I made this LO because I was just so frustrated with all the labels this kid is getting. The Wordle is of all the different labels he's gotten from teachers over the years. In preschool it was just "temper." Last year it was things like "sensitive" and highly "empathetic". This year he's progressed to mean, defiant, destructive and more.