Twin day at school - here's Hazel with one of her best friends, Aarna. Also, Hazel is loving her rollerblades. She hardly gets on her bike anymore.
March 2 is Dr. Suess's birthday. All the kids got to wear their pajamas to school and spend most of the day reading. I came into both Hazel's and Jack's classrooms as a guest reader.
We were happy to have Emily, Doug, and Isaac visit us from Chicago for a few days. The visit was mid-week, so mostly Doug worked from home and Emily joined me on my mom business, taking the kids to school and classes, walking the trail, playing with the kids in the yard. It was nice to spend time with my sister.
I don't know how it got started, but my kids and Isaac had this constant gig of sticking their tongues out, pointing at their mouths, and saying "Aaah!" It was silly. All the kids loved having a baby in the house, especially Jack, who is a total Baby Whisperer.
I took the kids up to the petting farm at Tilden Park in Berkeley. They let you feed the goats and cows if you bring your own celery or lettuce. Gemma and Jack loved it. Hazel was scared of the big cows.
They found some turkeys on the loose and gave them a big chase.
Then we went for a hike to Jewel Lake, which was pretty underwhelming. The path was extremely muddy, and the lake wasn't very jewel-like, although it did have some turtles to watch.
It was a nice, clear day and the views on the drive were lovely.
I found this note on Jack's desk when I was working in his classroom. He wrote it just-because, and doesn't even know I saw it. He is so darling.
Jack and Hazel set out leprechaun traps the night before St. Patrick's Day, and set out some money as bait (some real, some play). They were amazed that the leprechauns 1- didn't get stuck in the traps, and 2- took the real money and left the fake stuff.
It was such an exciting morning that no one noticed my oldest child stealing away to the bathroom to set up another trick. I think it's just so hilarious and adorable how she can hold on to her belief in the real thing while she pulls stunts like this at the same time.
Later, the kids remembered to look in their secret hideout and found a Lego set treasure the leprechauns left for them.
Hope has this cat named Tiffany with the biggest house I've ever seen. The kids loved meeting Tiffany, the most spoiled cat in the universe, and liked that they didn't have to wear their masks to play with the cat.
We interviewed several landscapers and found one we wanted to work with to remodel our backyard. This has been the view from our house:
We kept saying, "We want a soccer field, remember the soccer field, think of a soccer field." Basically, we wanted GRASS back there! Also, it wouldn't hurt to pull out some of the overgrown bushes that were turning the place into a jungle.
It made me to happy to hear the jackhammers, tearing up that massive patio!
They're still not done, but they're getting close. And the plans continue to roll forth. While we're at it, we're going to paint the house and redo the front yard as well. Might as well make it all how we want it.
Todd flew into the little Livermore airport one night and asked if I wanted to bring the kids and some pizza. Hazel invited her friend Adriana, and they had a fun night. It's pretty awesome to watch your dad fly such a massive machine, and maybe even cooler to get to climb around in it and pretend to be a pilot yourself.
Jack's getting to be good friends with this nice boy Jonah, who lives down the street and is in his kindergarten class. We've started doing weekly playdates with him.
Hazel's class has been studying Shakespeare and did a scene from "A Midsummer's Night Dream." All of the kids had one line; Hazel's was one of Puck's. "Now with thine own fool's eyes peep." She was one of only two kids who memorized their line and didn't read it off the script during their performance. I was super proud of her, especially considering she is not a fan of performing in front of an audience.
