It was his idea.

Kael wanted to wear them.

KAEL.

It was not my idea. In fact, I didn't want to put them on him so he went to Dad.

I didn't think Truong would actually do it.


What can I say? My kids like to accessorize with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head stuff.

(Malia likes the wear the Mister's glasses.)

The tomato grub

Kael's tomatoes are doing exceptionally well. Lots of yellow pears and grape tomatoes. The heirlooms are starting to color. The kids love going back there to make a harvest. Truong and I have been enjoying tomato salads with dinner.

Lately however, I've noticed that some tomatoes have been partially eaten. Some are on the ground still whole as if they were knocked off, others have nibbles on them and still more were chewed while still on the vine.

I think: darn birds. But that's kind of weird because I didn't think birds ate tomatoes.

Yesterday I was feeding Taede (or at least trying to feed Taede) when I saw something in our backyard. I can only assume it's our newest tomato grub. It all makes sense now.


Can you see him in the azalea bush? He was trying to climb up the bird feeder.



See that lime? It used to be on our little lime tree. Our backyard is this little guy's Whole Foods. I haven't checked on Kael's corn yet but now I understand why the sunflowers have all suddenly tipped over.

Backyard Fun

The past few weeks have been unbearably hot. Too hot to go anywhere so we pulled out the trusty inflatables and had some fun in the backyard.


Malia's swan dive.



Perfect landing.



Taede loving the water.



Really loving the water. I can still hear his shrieks of joy.

The writing is on the wall.

Or in this case: the floor.

As anyone who knows my family knows, my kids have eating issues. Kael has texture problems and is somewhat picky. I suppose picky is relative as I know kids who are waayyy pickier. And honestly, it's not so much a texture problem as it is a chewing problem: he doesn't like to eat meat. Chicken is OK. Pork, maybe if cut up small. Steaks? Fuh-get-about-it. "It's too chewy, Mom!"

Malia eats most things but in teeny tiny amounts. She eats to just tide her over but never enough to gain weight. I give her less and less, and still she claims she's too full to finish. She will however power down fruits and veggies. Too bad those things are calorie light.

And then we have Taede. For one so young, he sure has some strong opinions about food. Kael's eating issues didn't pop up until almost 2 years of age. Malia - past a year although I will say that she's always been a light eater even nursing. Taede has had a hate-hate relationship with food from the start. How can he dislike eating solids when he's got nothing to base that dislike on?! Give me a break. The one constant that he will eat is avocados -- and even that's not much.

Have you ever met a kid who rejects Cheerios?? Seriously. Cherrios. That stuff was the staple of Kael's and Malia's diet. If all else failed, a handful of Cheerios would do the trick. So far the only thing Taede has an interest in is his sippy of water. While he doesn't eat the Cheerios, he does have another use for them: gravity checkers.



Since he gags on baby food like I'm feeding him thick glue, I make his food from chicken, veggies, rice and pasta. He's OK with rice. I thought I'd mix things up a bit so he's not so fixated on one item.

He was less than enthused.


While I tricked him into eating it, he still got the last word.

Ok ok ok...

I get it.

I GET it.

I haven't updated the blog in a while. I've been busy! The first half of July was pretty much a wash between family visits and traveling up north. Then we had camp at the Oak Canyon Nature Center for Kael which was fun for him, but not so fun for Taede because camp drop off was at 9:00am. Can you guess what time is Taede's nap?

If you guessed 9:00am, you'd be wrong. It's actually between 8:00am and 8:30am. So by the time I dropped off Kael and motored my way home, Taede's nap has been pushed back to 9:20am. Remember this is the kid who starts the day at 5:30am. Still. Then pick up for Kael is at 1:00pm. And when is Malia's nap, you ask? It's at 12:30pm. It was hard to see her struggle to stay awake on the ride over to pick up Kael, and even worse: "Momma, I'm really tired; I want to go to sleep!"

Now we have 3 "dead weeks" with no camps, no summer school, no trips. I figured it would be nice to have some family time for the summer. Except for a few minor issues, it's been nice. Issues like: the upper 90's weather that make it impossible to play outside. Or the sucky shortened barely 1 hour naps I'm getting from Taede that stagger his and Malia's naps so I can't get any computer time, much less bathroom time without a kid tattling on the other, or a kid following me into the bathroom wanting to know what I'm doing or wanting to climb on my lap, or just as I'm settle down, I hear a thump then a scream. And my all-time favorite issue: the constant in-fighting between Malia and Kael over the littlest issues. Like fighting over toys that's not even theirs -- it's Taede's! And what are you doing playing with the baby's toys anyway?! Play with your own!!

Ugh. Camp is looking pretty tempting.

So that's been my summer so far. Kael has a few more science camps planned in August and Malia will have her usual pre-school camp to keep her in the swing of school related activities.

Taede is still my little bump. He goes where I go and spends most of the day dropping off or picking up a sibling, slung on me at some store like Costco or Target, or taking a header on the floor because he's trying to walk. He's pulling up and cruising everywhere. He's been standing on his own for a couple of weeks but he's still pretty tippable. And he's extremely single-minded: come hell or high water, he's going up those stairs. Now he knows it's forbidden because the second he hears me coming, he starts scrambling up those stairs like he's got ants in his pants. What a stinker.

Hello again...

Hey -- my blog still works! I wasn't sure since I haven't been on it for a while. I've had a family marathon the past 2 weeks so it was hard to get on the computer.

My middle sister Anne and her family came down on Thursday. They stayed at our place for a day before heading out to Escondido Friday afternoon. My oldest sister Priscilla, her dog Alfee and my mom also came for a visit (at the same time, separate cars), stayed one night then headed to Vegas. On Saturday I packed up my family and headed to Escondido to the same resort as my sister until Sunday. By then Priscilla, Alfee and Mom were back from Vegas and we hung out at home the rest of the week. Kael was very sick so we couldn't go anywhere anyway. Thankfully my mom and sister were a great help with the kids since Truong was out of town that week. There aren't many things scarier than staying home alone for days with a sick kid, a bored 3 year old, and a turbo-charged baby determined to break his neck climbing the stairs.

My house guests left for San Jose Thursday mid-morning, we followed Thursday night at 9:00pm, and the Escondido crew left Friday morning. We all converged at my parents' house to watch the fireworks show at the country club Friday night.

I know. It's like a finely choreographed dance sequence.

Kael and Malia for the first time actually saw the show. In the years past, the bang of the fireworks have always freaked them out and I would see them huddled under blankets, wrapped around Dad or a cousin or an aunt. It was nice to see them enjoy the show, ohhing and ahhing with the family. The biggest shocker was Taede because (A) he was still up at 9:15pm to see the show and (B) he actually saw the show without crying. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates and I don't think he blinked the entire 30 minutes.

Sometime during the San Jose week Malia ended up getting hit with what Kael had, which he got from Jarod. That meant a high fever of +103 degrees followed by a cough. I had to make a 9:30pm Walmart run to get a thermometer and Tylenol -- and let me tell you: my parents' Walmart is freaking scary at 9:30pm. It's ridiculous how many people (especially kids) were shopping that late.

I ate a ton of my mom's cooking, squeezed in a couple of visits with some high school friends, a trip to the San Francisco Zoo, the Egyptian Museum, ate some more, Truong golfed a day, visited my aunt on her ranch, ate even more, the kids swam (the kids are so tanned that they disappear in the shade) ... all in all it was a great trip. There were a couple of nights where I ate so much that I looked like I was 5 months pregnant. It was absurd. And my mom packed my cooler nice and tight for the trip home so I'm still enjoying Mom's home cooked meals. Yeah baby!

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures. I schlepp my big ass camera around but never use it. It ends up banging poor Taede on the head instead. Here's what little I did take though.

I hope you had a great 4th of July!