May 2015

Man, May felt like a long month.  Looking back, we definitely packed a lot in.

 Hazel got invited to a birthday party that was being held on a Sunday.  This is the first time we've had to turn down an activity because it conflicted with our Sabbath Day values.  As soon as I looked at the calendar and told Hazel the party was on a Sunday, her face fell.  I was so proud of her that there was no discussion, no attempt to negotiate or make an exception.  She is a good girl who always tries to do what we believe is right.  It's a cool thing to see her testimony already.

Todd helped me spend some money, and we spruced up our front porch a bit.  It feels much more welcoming now that there are decorations in place to distract you from all the leaves and spider webs.  The kids and I love to sit on the bench and read outside.

We made a family trip to San Diego.  There was rain on the forecast for most of our trip, so we prioritized.  We knew we had at least half a day of sunshine and wanted to spend it at Sea World.  Hazel was tall enough to hit all the rides.  Jack could have ridden most of them as long as Todd or I went with him, but he was too timid to try any of the big rides.  He loved the kiddie ones, though.  

Hazel rode the roller coaster with Todd, then came to get me and ride it again.  I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe something dinky like the roller coaster at Happy Hollow.  It. Was. Awesome!  I screamed and laughed the whole time, and since there was no line (thank you, rain!) we jumped right back on for a second trip.

The kids fed sea lions and bat rays.  Cool experience.

Jack is still (three weeks later) talking about how much bigger than him bat rays can grow to be.  That really interested him.  

We watched a dolphin show that was really, really cool.  Lots of people diving and fun costumes and tricks.  It was very visual and exciting.  Later, we went to the Shamu show, but that's when the rain decided to pour.  Everyone was miserable and we almost packed up to leave.  

Luckily for us, the rain slowed down early enough that we decided to stick it out til closing after all.  We all loved observing all the animals (the penguins were especially cute) and playing on the playgrounds.  It was a really fun day.

The next day was forecast for rain all day long, so we scratched our plans to visit the San Diego Zoo, and spent the day at a children's discovery museum instead.  Todd and I got a little bored after a couple of hours, but all three kids were in heaven all day long.  They made paper, built with blocks, painted, sculpted with clay, and played with plenty of creative apparati (is that a word?).

The sun came out mid-afternoon, so we were able to spend a few hours at the beach.  It was too cold to want to get in and use the body boards like we'd hoped, but it seemed like everyone was pretty happy just to dig in the sand and collect shells.

Overall, it wasn't quite the trip of our dreams, mainly because of the bum weather, but we had a great time.

Lately, Gemma has wanted something in bed with her while she sleeps.  It doesn't much matter what, just whatever she's been playing with right before night night.  She does a great job of not staying up to play, but it gives her something to do when she wakes up.  She's funny.

 We found a garter snake outside.  Gemma loved it and is still talking about it.  Hazel was afraid it was going to kill us.

These three are good buddies with each other.  I'm so pleased that they all play together nicely, and everyone has a unique and strong relationship with their other two siblings. I couldn't have asked for anything better.  I was worried someone would always be left out with three kids, but so far, so good. They manage it well.

Legos are still going strong over here.  The way Hazel and Jack play reminds me so much of how my sister Emily and I used to play with Barbies.  They create a setting, then talk through a story with the people, coming up with really cute dialogue.  It's fun to eavesdrop on, and they spend literally hours every week with it.

Our friends the Moss family came up one Saturday to hang out.  We hadn't seen each other in about a year.  I love these real friendships I've got in my life, where it doesn't matter how long it's been since you've seen each other, when you reunite, you feel close and can talk about anything, and feel truly cared about.  We had a scrumptious barbecue lunch, played at the house for a long time, then went for a hike and did a little geo caching.

On Memorial Day, we drove down to Santa Cruz and hung out at the beach with Todd's brother KB.  It's been fun for the kids and us to be able to see him more often while he's living close by.

The last weekend of May, I had a girl's overnight get together with some of my best friends from Sunnyvale.  We met in Tiburon and stayed in a hotel.  We strolled through the cute downtown shops, went out to eat, swam in the hotel pool and even choreographed our own little synchronized swim routine!  Ha ha.

We stayed up late talking and playing games and eating chocolate.  The next day, we went on a hike with awesome views of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge and Angel Island.  It was truly beautiful outside.

The rest of the day contained lots more talking, more games and chocolate and restaurants, and pedicures.  The whole trip was so rejuvenating, to be with people who feel like sisters, where we could be silly and confide our fears and feel safe and appreciated and loved.  I am so blessed with these good friendships I've formed.

April 2015

 We planted our very first garden.  Todd's been studying Square Foot Gardening and making multiple trips to the local nursery to talk with the experts there.  We had high hopes.  We even made our own potting soil and built our own planting boxes.  The kids have been super excited to water the garden and to watch sprouts pop up.

Unfortunately, the wildlife that hang out in our backyard has been excited about the sprouts as well.  We're not sure if the culprits are birds, raccoons, skunks, squirrels or cats, but after a few days, everything disappeared.  We covered it all in wire and the spinach grew back, but we lost everything else.  

Todd went out last week and bought a few starter plants.  He says he has sworn off seeds forever.  We shall see.  So far, so good.  We really don't know what we're doing.  

Easter was low-key this year.  We hid eggs in the yard three or four different times because the kids loved the hunt so much.

Hazel left a note for the Easter Bunny, asking for a real, live bunny to be left in her basket.  Uh.... Nice try, but no.

Todd's sister Missy and her family came out to see us for a few days during their spring break.  We loved having them!  Mostly we hung around home because my kids were still in school, but we took them on the trail by our place, went out to eat in Oakland and watched Todd heroically rescue a toy from the sewage drain (disgusting!), and met up with Uncle KB in Santa Cruz for a nice day at the beach.

Hazel went on a weeklong streak of waking up before me and setting up breakfast for everyone, complete with placemats and soda.  It was lovely to have her completely ready for school when I rolled out of bed, with a stress-free thirty minutes to read with her before she left each day.  I wish it were like that every day.

Hazel's school held a fun Bubble Festival we went to one evening.  They had multiple areas set up to play with bubbles and experiment with different ways to make them.  All the kids loved it.

Our ward spread new wood chips on Hazel's school playgrounds for our Mormon Helping Hands project this year.  Jack was one of the hardest child workers there - made me proud - and Hazel was excited to email her teacher a picture of herself in action.  

We had spring break right after our cruise, so Todd had to get back to work.  It was up to me to keep the kids entertained with activities close to home.  Our favorite day was when we drove down to Sunnyvale to visit with Nova and Spencer and their families.  We're grateful we've been able to keep up our friendships despite the distance between us.

March 2015

March was pretty much incredible.  I'd do it all over again and again.

My sister Emily and her husband Doug came out to visit for a long weekend.  We loved having them!  They were super involved with the kids, really helpful with meals and cleanup, up for doing anything: from exploring caves at our secret beach to jumping on the tramp with the kids, from checking out a St. Patrick's Day festival in nearby Dublin to staying up late every night talking, from walks through the neighborhood to bike rides and Zumba.  They were so fun to have over.  We wish Chicago were closer to Livermore!

Look how green it is here right now!  It's gorgeous.

We've put Jack in a baseball class and Hazel in a basketball class.  Both kids are loving it, understanding the game and wanting to play.

Jack's getting bigger.  He has started to read!  It's cool.  He also out of nowhere started being adventurous.  He's doing the monkey bars, going off the path on hikes, trying stunts on his bike.  

 Gemma is obsessed with baby dolls right now.  She carts them around everywhere she goes.

Hazel's always creating something.  The latest craze is shops.  She sets up merchandise and sells it to us (so far, she still takes imaginary money).  The store I have pictured here was a tree shop.  She found branches and leaves in the backyard and scotch taped her own species.

The culdesac is fabulous.  The kids spend tons of time out there on their bikes and the kid jeep, zooming around.  I feel so, so lucky to be in a house, with a backyard, and all this safe space in the front as well.  We're feeling very blessed to have this space to raise our kids in.

The last week of March, Todd's parents came out to watch our kids and Todd and I took off for a weeklong Caribbean cruise.  We traveled with five other couples from our early days in California.  It was a ridiculously fun reunion and a nice getaway from the demands of life.

We started the cruise off nice and slow, room service breakfast on our balcony as we watched the sun rise.  

Then the party got started, and we hardly slowed down enough to read a chapter in a book, much less sit in solitude all day long like we'd thought we might do.  Oh no!  Our days on the ship were packed with spin classes, shuffleboard, sports tournaments of all sorts (ping pong, basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, rock climbing), ice skating, dancing, game nights, even a tour of the galley.  The Royal Caribbean tournament medals came rolling in.

We had a few opportunities to dress up, which was fun.  One or the other of us ate steak every night.  (Hazel was jealous.) Todd brought walkie talkies and became best friends with Brian while playing with them.  ("Come in, Wombat, this is Possum.")

We scuba dived in Grand Cayman, played at the awesome Secret Falls in Jamaica, and lounged all day on the beach in the Bahamas.  We laughed so hard, so much.  It was such a blast.  This group of ours is trying to have a reunion like this every five years.  We can't wait for the next one! 

Brian & Courtni Muir, us, Kris & Jamie Johnson, Mitch & Jill Dabo, Trish & Tyler Alderman, Geraldine & Sebastion Medariago

 Now it's back to real life.  Day one was rough.  But each day since has gotten a little bit better.  I'm already looking forward to our next vacation!  Always got to have one to dream about to get me through the days.

February 2015

February's been low-key for the Bonners.  Lots of hanging around the house, projects in the backyard and the garage (pruning trees! building doll beds!), and sore throats all around.

We've mostly had perfect weather, so we've walked or biked to school and parks quite a bit.

Jack is figuring out how to blend sounds, so he's advancing beyond sight words with his reading skills now.  It's exciting!  Hazel is blowing me away with what she can read as well - she's made the leap and is moving beyond phonetically simple words and using pictures as clues, and is having no trouble with words like "could" and "going." She also suddenly loves to write.  It's awesome!  We get lovelies on post-its all over the house: 

And she's starting to add text to her darling homemade books: 

Super Cheetah to the rescue on Valentine's Day

Super Cheetah is playing.

Super Cheetah hears some bad news.

Super Cheetah grabs the golden necklace and brings it back to the little girl.

 I was lied to by Craft Bloggers once gain.  When will I learn? I needed some non-Christmas decorations for my mantle and wanted to make a wreath.  Came across one made with split peas that looked really cool - the sage green I love, and with an interesting texture.  I checked three or four different tutorials against each other, and everyone swore it was super simple, although a little tedious and definitely messy.  Everyone promised it would be done in two days.  Ha!  Three weeks later, it is done.  I love it from a distance.  If you decide you want to make one (and I strongly advise you that they are not worth the effort) stay far, far away from mod podge.  And spray adhesive.  Use a glue gun.  Expect to go through thirty or forty or maybe even fifty sticks of glue.  Know that there will be visible dried glue strings all over the place.  But if you start with a glue gun and a green wreath base, you truly could be done in a couple of days.

I've been doing a fitness challenge for the past eight weeks.  Two more to go!  Exercise six days a week, no eating past 8pm, sweets only one day a week, five servings of produce a day, in addition to a few more guidelines.  It's been kinda brutal.  Ive lost six pounds.  I can see the difference in my face and in my belly and love handles.  I'm craving sugar far, far less than usual, and desiring more wholesome foods in general.  But I still think about chocolate chip cookies every single day.

We had some good friends up from Sunnyvale Friday night for a sleepover.  Here is the one and only picture I took.  Sorry for the crazy eyes.  Shoulda turned the light on for just a minute!  I was too busy getting in some best friend talk and skipping out on sleep to document it all.  We had a blast!