Monthly Archives: May 2017

Toenails, Hodads & Banana Slugs

Above – Can you tell what Sparty is holding up?

Hangin’ in the Hood  …

Hodads!

Child prodigy…

Purisima Creek Redwoods …

Banana slug!

Making a cake …

Oops, got a little frosting on their faces …

Everybody loves a double decker bus!

Gotta love ’em all!

We have a house guest. Well sort of. She’s in Mexico with her brother & sister. I’ve got some photos I’ll share next post.

Oh, about that featured image, it’s a toenail!  It was hanging on the big toe for a long time. That is until Pappa snuck up from behind & yanked it off!

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Cherry Picking and Other Good Stuff

Above & below – Alo and Kando cherry picking last weekend. Together with Robb they picked 11 pounds of cherries!


Amma and Sparty on a walk to the end of the pier.


Annie’s All Stars.

… and someone who couldn’t get enough of them!


This is Alo’s class activity. Alo was really good with the sand. The rock, not so good …


Maya and Sparty doing sit-ups at gymnastics. Sparty’s on the far left, Maya 3rd from the left.

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo. This is how Coach Laura keeps the kids in line. Maya makes sure she’s in front. Every time.


Amma and Pappa took these two for FroYo.


Last weekend – Alo and Kando at the water park.


What kind of daughter takes a picture of her mom on the surgery table? That would be me. Don’t worry. It was a small skin cancer and it looks like she’s going to be just fine after the bruising goes away and the stitches are taken out.


That’s about it. There are more. There are always more and there’s always a next time.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook with LOVE!

Sparty’s Big Day

Above – Group photo! There was a big turnout for Sparty’s 3rd birthday party.


Our day started with a short visit from Ron and the kids to pick up a couple things for the party. The kids didn’t waste any time moving bar stools around so they could get up close and personal with “The Birthday Cake.”


The bounce house! I even went in it for a while and had great fun bouncing and sliding with the little ones. I think there’s a video out there somewhere …

The birthday boy.

Maya the Bee.

Face painting!

Minnie Mouse.

This is Maya’s friend, Eva, who lives up the street from her.

Street tacos were the order for Seis de Mayo!

I guess a couple hours of bouncing around will do a little one in.

Make that two little ones (that’s Henry in there) …

Then there was “Pin the Tail-Pipe.”

Here’s Maya pinning the tail-pipe somewhere far, far away from where it should go.

This is Ron’s friend, Chase, handling the blindfolds. It was so much fun watching him. He took over the job and I can tell you why. He loves kids! He started with the smallest ones and worked his way to the older kids, situating the blindfold, then lifting it just enough so they could see where to put the tailpipe, then he’d pull the blindfold back down and direct them toward the motorcycle. He’s a big guy but very calm, soft spoken and gentle with the kids – such a nice guy. Those are his two sons in the photo below.


Sisters who talk and laugh alike.

Here’s Eva’s mom and little sister Valerie.

There was some very serious bean bag tossing.

Ron had some trouble lighting the candle because the wind decided to pick up at the wrong time. It never did light.

Presents!

And some good ole hearty laughs!

Piñata time.

Thank God for the big kids coming in to finally bust up the piñata.

Scramble!

Pirates booty and a happy birthday boy.

The party was a blast – Lots of things to do, good food (& cake), very nice people and a lot of sweet, respectful kids.


Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook with LOVE!

Another Empty Nest

Above – A masterpiece! Pappa and I spent many hours today building a cake for the Sparts’ 3rd birthday – German chocolate cake complete with motorcycle and stop sign. There’s a story behind this that has to do with playing the motorcycle game and stop sign game while driving wherever we’re headed. The game is simple (after all we play it with a 2 & 4 year old) – we take turns finding either a motorcycle or stop sign. Usually Maya and Sparty make up the rules as we go along but I suppose that’s the way it goes.

To give you an idea of how big this cake is, we brought this young subject in to sit behind it.

If that doesn’t do it, how about this – 4 cake mixes and 7 tubs of frosting! BIG!

Meanwhile, we have another empty nest. These precious little – teeny tiny actually – eggs …

That hatched into these hungry little beings…

That grew into these beautiful, amazing creatures …

… have flown away.

Let’s take a look at what Robb and the boys have been up to – another outing in the Bay Area – Tennessee Beach, Marin.

Here at Amma & Pappa’s – pizza for breakfast.

And a challenge for Amma to crawl through the doggie door. It’s a tight squeeze!

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!