WordPress weekly photo challenge: Blue

Living in San Diego, CA, I get to enjoy beautiful blue skies the majority of the year. I’m not sure what makes the sky so blue here, but I’m guessing it has to do with our latitude and the ways the sun rays light up the sky. It really does help when taking photos of various subjects, and using the blue sky as a nice, contrasted background.

I took this photo in our backyard a few weeks ago, after what will probably be our last rain for the next six months.

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Blue

I also can’t help thinking about my boys when I hear the word blue. My whole world is blue because of them. They avoid the aisles of girl toys, calling them “the pink aisles”. They both have beautiful blue eyes and look great with blue tops, so I buy a lot of those. We also have a blue couch at our house, courtesy of IKEA. With a removable cover you can throw in the washer, this is one of the best furniture investments I’ve made with two kids. Here’s my four-year old when he was just a baby, sitting on the blue couch in his blue footsy pajamas, with his beautiful blue eyes (which you really can’t see well on this picture). 

And here’s a photo of his brother when he wasn’t even two years old, sitting on our blue couch in my blue T-shirt, using my Boppy pillow and a burpcloth to breastfeed his lovey. How cute is that? I also have a photo of him using my breastpump but you’ll have to wait for the color “yellow” to be the theme of the photo challenge!

I believe in Santa Claus and you will too!

Merry Christmas cat in a Santa hat

Last night I read one of the most wonderful Christmas stories of all times. It’s so wonderful I thought I’d share it with you and I’m sure you’ll want to share it too. I read this story on the San Diego KPBS website .

Take a minute to read this story about a cat named Merry Christmas (no, I’m not making this up) and just in case you were doubting, you’ll truly believe there is a Santa Claus.

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San Diego, CA, December 22, 2011

A Merry Christmas came a couple of days early for a 7-year-old Oceanside girl who received exactly what she wanted today — the return of her missing cat.

The 4-year-old tabby that belongs to the Hess family is appropriately named “Merry Christmas,” Kelli Herwehe of the Humane Society said.

“He went missing the day after Halloween, and the family had just about given up,” Herwehe said. “(The girl) went to see Santa Claus last week and the only thing she asked for is for the cat to come home.”

As it turned out, a good Samaritan found Merry Christmas and took him to the Humane Society on Sunday. Herwehe said the feline was identified through a microchip and returned to the Hess clan.

Animal services officials encourage pet owners to get microchips in case their animals disappear. Several pets have been reunited with their owners this year after going missing for long periods of time, thanks to the tiny computer chips.

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How amazing is that? And I thought watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” was the perfect thing to put me in the Christmas spirit.

Now, what the news story failed to say is, the girl decided to take her cat Merry Christmas to say thank you to Santa Claus and this is what happened:

Typical cat, quite ungrateful by nature.

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WWW Wednesdays – November 16, 2011

My bookshelf

- What I’m currently reading
I’m still reading The Princess Bride by William Goldman. Why? It’s easy and fun to read, so this is not the issue. It’s rather the pain killers I’ve had to take every few hours for almost two weeks that make me sleepy and are stealing me of my reading time. You see, I’m suffering from a nerve injury in my shoulder from a recent flu shot I got (of all things!). I think I’ll blog about it when I’m feeling better because there’s a good warning for everyone out there who needs a shot in their arm. Don’t learn the hard and painful way.

 

- What I recently finished reading
Nothing new since last week.  :-(

- What I think I’ll read next
I think I’ll return One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez to the library, as I don’t feel in the mood to read it right now. But I have a lot of GREAT books in transit at the library and I’ll let you know what my next reading choice is next week’s WWW Wednesdays update. I have high hopes to be done with The Princess Bride by then!

My kids’ bookshelf

Binky the space cat by Ashley Spires

- What they’re currently reading
What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins. This Caldecott Honor book shows you a different part of the body of several animals on each page spread. You have to guess which animal they belong to and how the animal uses that body part. Did you know the horned lizard can squirt blood out of its eyes to surprise its attacker? Or that the archer fish sprays water out of its mouth to knock out insects close to the surface of the water? My kids can’t get enough of this book and I’ve learned a lot from it too!

- What they recently finished reading

We have discovered several books from the very talented and funny writer/illustrator Ashley Spires. My boys are starting to show interest in comic strips and these books are the perfect introduction to the genre. They’re funny, easy to understand (with or without the words) and full of exciting and ridiculous adventures. Great for kids from 4 to 8.

Binky the space cat. This is the first of the series. Binky, a beloved house cat, tries to prepare a rocket ship so that he can explore outer space (=outside the house), but he has second thoughts about taking off as he wonders how his owners would protect themselves against aliens (=bugs) if he weren’t there to help them. What’s not to like about that?

Binky to the rescue. Binky, while in hot pursuit of an alien wanderer (=a bug), falls out of the space station porthole (=the bathroom window), and finds himself in outer space (=outside the house). After he manages to get back in the house, he realizes the aliens have taken his lovey hostage. Yikes!

Binky under pressure. Binky’s owners bring a new kitten into his home. Certified space cat Binky is determined to get rid of the intruder, but he’s in for a surprise after he finds out she’s actually his boss and is in charge of testing his skills.

- What I think they’ll read next
We just got some great books about art made specifically for young children and I’m getting more of the same theme. So I hope I have some good recommendations for you next week if your little ones are interested in art. I believe most kids have a lot of artistic talent to uncover.

What about you? Any books you or your kids are reading you’d like to share?

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A dose of motherly love

Motherly Love by Frederick Morgan

I know Father’s Day is only a couple of days away in the US but I thought all moms around the world could use a dose of motherly love on this Friday. Alright, I’m sure the dads will like this too. My husband first showed me this video on Facebook and I thought it was just too adorable not to share. Feel free to share it with moms who could use a little pick-me-up today (and really, who doesn’t?).

In this YouTube video, mother cat really shows us what moms, animal or human, are here for: comfort, reassurance, cuddling, and tender loving care. Looking at this video, I can’t help remembering what it was like to hold my kids when they were tiny sleeping babies. How sweet they smelled, how little and precious they felt, how peaceful they looked. Not a care or worry in the world, no pressure to perform or conform. Just eat, sleep, cuddle. Repeat very two hours. Even though I enjoy watching my kids grow up, I do miss those days sometimes.

Today I have one who still cuddles but only because he wants to marry me and the other who often is too busy playing to take a break and give me a hug. Sigh.

Happy Friday! Make sure you watch the whole video because it only gets better as it goes.

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Kids Say the Darndest Things – Spring 2011 edition

Almost a year ago, I shared some funny / wacky things my kids have said, so I thought it’d be fun to add funny quotes, now that my sons have matured a little, verbally and mentally. Adults tend to work hard at being funny while kids manage to entertain us every day, on purpose or not. As they become more adept with the language, they even start using play on words and create new expressions. Other times they just manage to say things we can’t help but laugh at.

Here are a few of my “Kids say the darndest things” favorites from the past few months:

“Look at that yellow car on the tow truck. If it was a mouse car, there would be a dead mouse on the side of the road!”
My oldest came up with this joke yesterday as we were driving by a broken-down yellow car. He loves the Truly Nolan yellow cars and calls them mouse cars. I love his on-the-spot joke creation – he’s becoming quite a funny guy.

“Wait for it…”
My youngest is three years old and I have no idea where he got this line from but he uses it at least once a week. I swear we don’t let him watch Barney Stinson on “How I Met Your Mother”. He’s still working on the punchlines he should deliver after the “wait for it”, which may be the funniest part of it all. It’s like waiting for Godot…

“It’s not bubble gum, it’s double gum.”
My oldest is almost five years old and has fun inventing new expressions. His “double gum” creation involves putting two pieces of gum in your mouth, but of different kinds, for a sensational burst of flavors. I’ve tried his concoction and the kid is right, it tastes great!

“How did the Easter Bunny know that I love spacemen?”
That’s what my oldest wondered when the Easter Bunny brought him an assortment of plastic space toys. My answer to him? Just like Santa, the Easter Bunny sees and knows everything about you. I’m not sure if I freaked him out or just confused him…

“How did you get out of the fence?”
Remember how in the TV series “Home Improvement”, Tim Allen only talked to his neighbor Wilson through the fence? Well, that’s how my kids communicate with our neighbor’s son most of the time. So my three year old was apparently shocked to catch our little neighbor “out of the fence” and in front of his house last week. We’re still laughing about this one.

“When I grow up, I want to be a policeman so I can give tickets.”
Right out of my oldest son’s mouth – he makes me so proud!

Son #1: “When I grow up, I want to work at Panda Express so I can be the man making fire.” Son #2: “I want to make fire too.” Son #1: “No, you’ll be THAT guy.” (pointing at the poor guy working the register)
Are they really fighting over who’ll be cooking in the Panda Express kitchen?

“…107, 108, 109, a million!”
Wow, so all I need is $109 and add one more dollar to be … a millionaire! I’m still impressed my oldest can count on his own to 109. I just need to rectify his course a little.

“It’s not called Fresh & Easy. It’s Fresh & Zizi.”
Only 3 years old and my youngest is already playing with words. For those of you who don’t know French, “zizi” (pronounced zee-zee) is what French kids call their “willy”. I’ll leave it at that…

“When Boris dies, I want to get kittens at Petsmart because they’re sooooo cute.”
My oldest knows we won’t get more cats until our current cat passes away (his buddy died earlier this year). Should I be worried about Boris’s well being?

“Get away, I’m still tired. And close the door!”
That’s how my youngest welcomed me when I tried to wake him up from his nap a few weeks ago. I have a feeling he’s going to be an interesting teenager…

“Mama, I’m going to marry you!”
My oldest whispers this in my ear at least once a week. For more on this interesting development phase, read my post “Mama, I’m going to marry you!”

“Just wait, it’s barfering!”
Barfering, buffering – yeah, I guess you could use either term when you stare at on your computer screen, waiting for streaming video to get going.

“It says, Be nice and no biting!”
What my youngest announced the fortune paper in his fortune cookie read. The kid knows what’s good for him!

Do you kids say funny things that you dare to share?

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