The Full Catastrophe

I learned a lot about cake making with this baby. Only time will tell if I try a three layer cake again. I certainly will need a stand mixer if I do it again.

It is Laurel’s 2nd birthday today! Again, another bittersweet day in a parent’s life. I have so much fun with her and have so much pride in her and am so happy to have a little girl in my life. The kids’ birthdays force me to realize that childhood is just as fast as lightning.

Here’s a picture Brian snapped yesterday (”her last day as a one year old” I told everyone we encountered). Isn’t she lovely? Do you also hear the Stevie Wonder song in your mind right now?

Here she is on her 1st birthday:

And here she is when she was just born:

I baked a pink three-layer cake for Laurel’s birthday dinner. It is a tower of strawberry/cream cheese insanity. I’ll make sure to share some photos on here later!

Three day weekends are great. Three day weekends that kick-off summer…well those are simply divine. This weekend we took the kids to visit Brian’s Aunt Kim for a morning of horseback riding.

Kim rides 3 days a week at this lovely north county farm. Oscar and Laurel were very comfortable on and around the horses. Lucky for them, Kim had arranged for rides on a sweet old pony named April. Kim kept offering rides anytime they want. Don’t be surprised if we put our house up for sale and move closer to April!

I am still working on my 7 minute mile. Just this morning I tried for an official record of my run, but for a second time made it in 7 minutes, 20 seconds. I can do the 7 minute mile on the treadmill, but on a track I am clearly struggling. I am determined to make it happen on a track and will be proud to share my news here as soon as I meet this goal.

Brian surprised me with a trip to Catalina last weekend. I gladly accepted this trip in lieu of the typical card & flowers Mother’s Day combo. Once again, Brian’s mom stepped up to take the kids for us. Thanks, Vicki!

I learned in May 2005 (my first Mother’s Day) that I am the kind of mom who is perfectly happy celebrating Mother’s Day without my kids. Lucky for me, Brian supports me in this way of life. This may be due to the fact that once we witnessed a married couple arguing about how the man wanted to spend Father’s Day. They were in the parking lot of the zoo, in front of their kids, when it finally came out that the dad would have preferred to watch the Padres game on the TV. If it is your day, you should get to do what you want to do. Seems pretty straightforward to me.

Catalina is darling! It was my first trip there. Followers of the list may remember that kayaking around the island is something I’m wanting to do. We actually had intentions to rent some kayaks, the only problem was the fact that the boat rental place was right next to this beachside bar and we were both reading such good books and it felt really good in the sun that day and well we certainly plan on going back to Catalina and well you know it just didn’t happen. No regrets, whatsoever about that one.

Oscar sent us to Catalina with a pirates treasue map. We used it to find the cocktails on the beach!

Golf carts were a lot less strenuous than kayaks.

I have decided to enlist your help in accomplishing some personal goals. I’ve been training for a 7 minute mile and think I am ready to make this run. Will you support me in this effort? I am seeking donations of $7 (or your favorite multiple of seven; 14, 21, 28…700!) for Rolling Readers. The mission of Rolling Readers is to inspire all children, particularly the economically and socially disadvantaged, to love reading through read-aloud volunteers and new book ownership. A $7 donation is enough for the purchase and distribution of a couple of books. Many of Rolling Readers books are given to kids who have never owned their own books.

Go here to make your donation. I’ll be making my 7 minute mile effort pretty soon and will update The Full Catastrophe with my result. I know this run will be a bit easier with your support.

You can also support Rolling Readers by joining Brian and me at the “Artists and Authors” event on Friday May 15th. This event at The New Children’s Museum will feature local authors and artists, great food and wine, live music and an appearance from Fox 5 Mornings News anchor Arthel Neville. Cost is $60 per person and tickets can be purchased here.

Grandma Toki is playing with the kids right now, so I thought I’d steal away to my computer to share some recent photos. We just got back from a nice stroll through the Japanese garden in Balboa Park. It was a first time for each of us to visit the garden and we picked a lovely spring day to do so. The weather is certainly spring-like with cool breezes, fluffy clouds, and a hint of warm sun.

Easter Sunday was pretty much the same weatherwise. I went to the effort this year of buying Easter clothes for the kids, something I have never done before. Having a daughter and the opportunity to buy pretty dresses is very satisfying. When Brian heard that I had Easter clothes in mind he started to worry that I was going to make him dress up, too. He was off the hook this year, but next year I’m thinking that matching bow-ties for the boys will be just the ticket!

My mom and dad are holding my grandma’s hand in this photo. Sunday, March 29th was a day that we honored each of them. It was my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary and it was also the last day of my grandma’s life. She suffered a major stroke last week and our family came to her bedside to tell her one last time what she meant to all of us. It was a joyful and emotional celebration of her beautiful life. Alice Mae Priest was 82 years old.

My parents have spent the first 40 years of marriage working on their careers as educators and coaches, getting us three girls to become self-reliant, and entrenching themselves in the Murphys community. They are now reaping the rewards of the many years of hard work with my mom’s retirement and my dad’s semiretirement from teaching, grandkids, and the establishment of “The Spice Tin”. It is my mom’s dream to run a spice shop in Murphys and my dad is partnering with her 100% in making it a reality. What a beautiful tribute to their life together The Spice Tin is already. I’m so proud of their loving and supportive relationship. The Spice Tin has a blog. Add it to your RSS feed.

Finally, The Full Catastrophe has just celebrated its 1st birthday. My intention for this site is to document milestones in my family’s life. I love comments and feedback from readers, so please don’t be shy. The strange thing about keeping this blog is that the people who read it really keep me going. It is also very therapeutic to just sit and write every now & then. While I don’t have tons of energy for regular posts lately, I do feel proud of what I’ve done so far and more ideas of what to share in the future. In fact, I’m getting ready to try a 7 minute mile on the record. I better not hurt myself!

Clever title, eh? Well, Laurel and Oscar are cute. So there!

Oscar’s drawing skills are coming together all of a sudden. He is for the first time thinking about what he wants to create, vs just scribbling. Here’s something he created at school last week.

He had his teacher copy down the following description of his piece: “This is a sea animal that lives in the sea. If you touch the brown things you will get poisoned and sick. And if you touch the black or red ones they will make more of the sea creatures.”

Oscar also enjoys creating books. Leave a comment with this post and I’ll send a random commenter a copy of his latest book “Super Flower and Attack of the Talking Apples” on Friday, March 27th.

Laurel is loving her weekly music class. I cut together some fun moments to share with you here:

Our bag is packed and the babysitters are lined up and I’m just here waiting for the magic hour to arrive. Brian and I are making a break for it and leaving the kids for the night. We have tickets to see our favorite guilty pleasure from The Soup, Joel McHale, tonight in exotic Long Beach. We are devoted to The Soup and have a habit of watching the recorded show as soon as our kids take nap on Saturday afternoons. Even if the show sucks tonight, we’re going to have a blast! I actually have an Adam Carolla podcast featuring Joel McHale all lined up for our drive this afternoon. Fun fun fun fun fun. What a dork I am!

This is actually our second getaway in recent weeks. I’ve been meaning to write about our trip to the desert for a while now. I haven’t got to it partly because Brian hasn’t had a chance to edit his photos from the trip, which would be nice to share here (No pressure though, Shug…you’ve got a lot of projects right now). So anyway, I knocked numbers 1 & 50 off the list when I surprised Brian with a weekend in the Anza-Borrego desert to enjoy the wildflowers. On the day of our trip, a babysitter showed up and I told Brian to grab his camera and get in the car. After a stop in Escondido to experience Peterson’s Donut Corner, we drove into Borrego Springs. There we found an awesome 6 mile hike to an oasis and waterfall and then settled into the quirky and fun Palms Hotel at Indian Head. This was my first trip to the desert, but not my last.

We’re getting quite used to regular vacations from parenting responsibilities. A big thanks must go out to Brian’s mom, Vicki, for being our generous overnight babysitter. We owe you a nice dinner, Vicki.