School Days, School Days, Dear Old Golden Rule Days

What a day!! It was Cory's official first day at Hass Business School of Berkeley AND it was Alex's first day of kindergarten !! These pictures were taken right before they left to their respective schools. Let's just assume that Cory didn't leap and run all the way to his school like his son. (But I bet Cory was leaping on the inside.)

You hear of moms crying just as hard as their kids as they leave them to try out the murky waters of kindergarten all alone? Not me!! I was thrilled to put an end to (at least for 3 hours and 20 minutes) the constant bickering and fighting that have become the soundtrack of our home. After a full morning of screams, slamming of doors, and public embarrassment on the one errand I was forced to do, I was more than ready to fling him into the arms of his new teacher. And I almost got rid of Claire, too. She thought it was her school and sat right down with the rest of the kids. Only after a head count did the teacher notice there was one extra head.
It would have been so easy to sneak out and not admit she was the 2 yr old younger sister. She could hold her own with all those 5 yr olds -- I'm sure of it.

After school was over I only could get out 2 comments from the new student. #1 He liked the fruit snacks I packed in his backpack. And #2 Ollie the Otter is his school mascot. (And that information I got only by bribing him with gummy bears.) Cross your fingers that we all survive this school year.

Alex is 5!!

Today is my little boy's birthday. We had a great day -- full of his favorites. It all started with breakfast at Denny's. For a boy who LOVES pancakes, it's a dream come true. Then a back-to-school party was already scheduled at the park so I didn't even have to plan anything for him to get a chance to play with the new friends he has made here. And then it culminated this evening with cake and ice cream with some neighbors. This birthday was all about CARS! Lightn'ing McQueen is where it is at for this guy. And for this special occasion, I did something I have never done before -- I decorated a cake!! I know, after 5 years of being a mother that shouldn't be confessed. But, remember I have no decorating skills whatsoever.

I think it turned out okay, right? My 5 yr old was impressed. Thank goodness his expectations are low.

And enjoy the little slideshow I put together. Our little Alex has put us through A LOT (compiling these photos brought many bad memories back) but there are many good things we like to remember. We love you, Alex!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My Obsession

Is it corny or what that I'm addicted to the Olympics? I have been losing sleep trying to actually stay up to see the end of a competition or to see what's coming up next. In our past life (when I had a DVR) I would just record it and watch it at a more convenient time. But, those days are gone and, as we like to put it, "we're watching TV like animals" (meaning commercials and no pausing or fast forwarding -- my kids didn't know what commercials were until we came here -- Claire actually told me that the TV was broken when one came on -- and don't even get me started on not being able to pull up a past episode of "Backyardigans" at any hour, day or night....okay we'll call this segment the "Basic Cable Blues".) Enough of the tangent -- sorry, I'm sleep deprived! But I have this love/hate relationship with the Olympics:

• Really, how many preliminaries/quarter-finals/semi-finals must we endure before a race/dive/match will actually count for a medal? We are constantly asking around here "Is THIS one for REAL?"
• What's up with the scoring for women's (I mean little girls') gymnastics? It was a "rip off", to quote Bela Karolyi (yes -- I stayed up to watch his interview with that head NBC guy)
• And what's up with snotty, southern lady who comments during all the diving events? Seriously, it's like listening to Nancy Grace give a legal analysis on every move those divers make.
• But the best comment that will go down in our house as the best of this year's Olympics (I know it's too early to tell) is when a commentator was speaking of Michael Phelps and said, with all the emotion he could muster, "He has done something that has never been done before, and perhaps will never be done...[pause for dramatic emphasis] before." I still get the giggles thinking of his faux pas.
• And do the beach volleyball players HAVE to wear bikinis in order to perform well? And is the see-through-white mesh that they wear absolutely necessary?
• But the best thing is to find all the obscure events that they don't broadcast on primetime NBC. Just go to CNBC or MSNBC at random times and you can enjoy events such as doubles ping-pong (I mean table tennis), women's clean and jerk weightlifting, trampoline jumping, and we just stumbled upon speedwalking tonight on MSNBC (my personal favorite!)

Well, I better run (no pun intended) they're about to show the "Farewell to Gymnastics" Extravaganza -- I can't miss that!

Out and About

Up until this weekend, I was telling Cory, I could have been anywhere in the USA. This little bubble of student/family life could be happening in any other great American city. We could have been in Colorado for all I knew. I had ventured far enough from this little house in order to find the grocery store (Lucky's or Safeway -- neither of them double coupons so does it really matter?), Target, Costco, and IKEA. You know, the essentials. Oh yeah, and I have also been close enough to Berkeley campus to drop Cory and his cronies off at the Business School and to see the people who used to live in trees who now just live on the sidewalk. (I guess living in the actual tree broke some public code but camping out on the sidewalk is just fine.) But they are important enough to be close enough to the campus to hear a lecture and to get police protection around the clock. Sometime when I'm brave enough to stop I might include a picture. So, anyway...this weekend we decided to discover our new city.

On Friday we went to the Oakland Temple that doubled as a reunion spot with the parents of my roommate from BYU. And as Erica's mom said, "We were more than just roommates." I was trying to figure out the female equivalent of "my brotha from anotha motha" but I just can't. But here's to you, Erica, my third sister! It was a blast from the past. A lot has changed with me in the last 10 years from seeing them last....it's crazy to reflect on that. But we had a great time visiting our new temple and hope to go one day without the kids. We hope to do a lot of things without our kids. Please pray for a good babysitter to emerge sometime.

Claire enjoying the flowers on the beautiful temple grounds. I think she picked more than she smelled. Woops!

NOW on to SATURDAY:

Our adventure continued as we ventured into the big city of SAN FRANCISCO! Too bad we didn't think to go on a weekday to beat the weekend rush into the island. It was crazy on a Saturday afternoon to get over the bridge. Although we live maybe 10 minutes away, it took us a full hour and half until we actually got over and found parking. Next time we'll be taking the BART. And let me tell you, our kids aren't the best travelers so it was pure torture to be trapped in a car with them for that long, crawling 5 miles per hour. We decided next time we go they are not invited so Cory and I can actually enjoy ourselves. But we had a good lunch, enjoyed seeing the sea lions, and had fun "roller-coastering" through those streets that San Fran is famous for.

The famous Pier 39.

Who doesn't want food from a VW Bus?

That face should be on commercials!

I've Caught the Creative Bug!

This is a test of the creative broadcasting system! Remember, this is only a test! Hopefully it worked -- let me know!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

First Impressions

Well we've been here exactly one week. I tried to pay extra attention to things around me when I first arrived so I could give an accurate description. But now I try not to notice so much so the reality of living here doesn't settle in. Nevertheless I have some very memorable first impressions:

• When we first opened the door into our new abode I really thought I had walked into a janitor's closet. Yes, that's what it feels like. All industrial and basic and cave-like. But it's a janitor's closet with a very nice table (ours) that barely fits.
• What kind of floor is in our new closet-like kitchen, do you ask? Just look at your neighborhood grocery store or even Target. We must have the same decorator. It's beautiful. You've heard of floors that always look clean? WE have floors that always look dirty -- fabulous!
• Did we move to a foreign country? We go to the park and NO ONE is speaking English. I know I experienced the "melting pot" that is San Diego, but this is 10 times more extreme. The kids have already made friends with some Korean (I think) children who they just chase around and growl at each other. I guess the game of being annoying is the same in any language.
• There are many, many smart people around here -- and I am not one of them. One of our neighbors and Cory's classmate just happens to be a family doctor and a mother of three with incredible ambition. I am feeling only slightly inadequate.
• There is a train that goes right by our apartment. Not a little one, a HUGE train. The first time it went by while we were outside, Claire dropped everything and ran to me in a panic. We have since gotten used to the sound and rarely notice it when it races by, late at night with the horn blaring.
• And it's freakin' cold here! All last week we were bundled up in jackets (if I had a parka I would have used it) and we have turned on the heater in our house -- in the middle of August!
• The ward and fellow families here are great and very supportive. In our one week here we have already been to a barbecue, had 2 playdates, gone to an enrichment night and a girl's night out, and been asked to dinner twice. People really know what it's like to be new and away from anything familiar and they rally around each other. That almost makes up for the cramped space and the terrible linoleum.
  
  

Something is missing -- maybe a cabinet or two. This is right above our sink and somewhere that would be great to have more space to store things. When I asked the maintenance man why they failed to install cabinets there he said, "well, don't you have enough cabinets already?"

And there is something else missing (besides the dishwasher and garbage disposal) -- no cabinet doors under the sinks! Not even in the bathrooms! It's hideous and now I have to really go out of my comfort zone and put up a curtain to hide our trash. I'll let you know how the project goes.

Alex and Claire think that this is our backyard. There is one advantage of living on the bottom floor -- an escape from the cramped quarters.