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!  

January 2015

January has been a big, busy month for us, full of birthdays and doctor appointments.  Nothing scary on that last front - just well-child check-ups and dentist visits.  It made for lots of opportunities for me to spend one-on-one time with each kid, and plenty of chances for the others to play with friends while we were out, and to have them over to our house in exchange.  Gemma, especially, has had enough time with buddies that she now runs away from me when I come to pick her up, and asks to "play Noah" or "Alyce and Grace's house" most every day.

Jack turned four on January 4th.  It was his first day in Primary in church, instead of nursery.  That kid was so ready to move on!  He had breakfast cake in the morning, and muffins for dinner.

Jack had a birthday party with friends for the first time ever, and I was soooo excited that he wanted a pirate themed party.  It was tons of fun to put together!  The kids made parrot crafts, played an X Marks the Spot version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, had cannonball fights (using socks), played Brigg Tag, and ate cake.  It was tons of fun.

Here are Jack's birthday interview results:

FAVORITES
color- orange
toy - Legos
movie - How to Train Your Dragon
animal - tigers
song - Let It Go
food - muffins
place to go - Alyse's house
season - winter
best friend - Mason and Alyse

What do you like to do outside? jump on the trampoline
What do you like to sleep with? Snuggle Pup
What do you want to be when you grow up? a dad, just a dad
What do you do really well? clean up
Three words that describe you: a boy ...
One food you really dislike: pot pie
If you had one wish, what would it be? that it would snow here (California)
What makes you laugh? tooting - that makes me really laugh
What are you afraid of? those ghosts
What do you like to do with your family? play Legos
What do you love to learn about? animals

Gemma had her second birthday on January 14th.  The little lady spent the morning at Noah's house while I took Jack to the doctor's.  When I picked her up, we went to the park.  We had macaroni and cheese for dinner, which she loved and the other kids hated.  Oh well, birthday kid gets to pick!  She loved her princess cake, and was pretty darn excited when she realized that that electronic thingamajig she'd just unwrapped was a bubble machine for the backyard!

I didn't try interviewing her, so the answers to these questions are my best guesses, but that's probably more accurate than what Gemma would have told me as as I asked her anyway!

FAVORITES
color-pink
toy -dolls, baby, Barbie, or big, all dubbed "Elsa"
animal - puppies - she always asks to "touch it" but never dares really do it
song - Crazy Frog and Halloween songs (Wee Sing for Halloween CD)
food - macaroni and cheese - she just calls it pasta
place to go - the park
best friend - Hazel, followed by Jack, then Grace and Noah

What do you like to do outside? ride bikes, swing
What do you like to sleep with? a cozy blanket
What makes you laugh? being chased and tickled
What are you afraid of? the vacuum

Gemma talks up a storm, and has lately been big on tattling: "Mom said, Mom said, I can't hold you!" she shrieks to Hazel while I make dinner.

The kids have been skyping a lot with my parents. Hazel and Jack both tell me they wish we lived in Utah.

We've had some truly fabulous weather lately, so we've been spending a lot of time outside.  Wintertime is when I realize why living in California is so expensive!

 Jack's been having a lot of bad dreams lately.  When he does, I hear him cry out, then a couple footsteps, then silence.  In the morning, I find him sleeping in Hazel's bed.  She is a good, nurturing, loving sister in the middle of the night.

The last two Saturdays we've spent the day at the beach in Half Moon Bay.  The first Saturday we were there during high tide.  There wasn't much space to play on without having to keep an eye on the waves and dash out of their way when they came crashing.  Gemma was scared, so she and I spent most of the time near the entrance steps, digging in the sand and just trying to get her to feel comfortable.

Jack stayed with us for the first part, but eventually warmed up enough to get close to the waves as long as he stayed by Todd's side.  Todd would pick Jack up every time the waves came in.  Hazel - she was right in the thick of things, climbing rocks, searching for shells, making angels in the sand.  

When we went back this last Saturday, it was low tide, and a whole different ballgame.  All three kids were happy to explore the tide pools, touching sea cucumbers and anemones and collecting shells.  Gemma, Jack, and I mostly stuck together, while Todd and Hazel went a lot further down the beach, on a quest to find something great.  And they did!  A big, beautiful abalone shell.  Which honest Hazel took to the patrolling ranger and asked if she could take it home.  Which resulted in some very disappointed kids and a big pile of shells left behind in the sand.  (I think the reason they couldn't take shells from this beach is because it's a protected area for seals.)

Todd was annoyed, and Hazel was heartbroken, and Jack said he just wanted to go home, and Gemma was mad that I made her stop digging in the sand and get in the van.  Somehow I was able to encourage the gang to try to discover a new beach, and we drove and peeked around for forty minutes before we found one that wasn't crowded or closed off.

We had to walk about a quarter mile down a paved road to get to it, but we all agreed it was absolutely worth the trek.  When we got there, we saw a mile long stretch of beach, some great crashing waves and a nice tide pool offering, some caves to check out, and only a handful of other people, who were all so far away we didn't have to think about them at all.  It was paradise! We stayed for a couple more hours, collected as many shells as we could carry, explored to our heart's content, and can't wait to go back.  And no, I am not telling you where it was!  Family secret, right here!  :) I was happy at Moss Beach, I really was, but there was something completely next-level and soul-satifsying about this place.  I was recharged there.  I'm totally in love.