Bleh

For the past couple of nights, I've been crashing on the sofa ridiculously early. We're talking like grandma early like around 8:00pm if not sooner. My hubster was asking why. I've finally thought about it and I think I know why. Today, I realized how emotionally invested I am with my kiddos. Of course, I knew I would be, but I didn't think it was going to be this much.

I get to experience the joys of their days with them like when they hear something funny in a story we're reading. I get to watch them become more confident as they realize that they can read without my help. With all these highs, there comes lows. Today, I had to be the crutch for one kiddo because their foot, which was just taken out of a cast, got bumped by someone. When someone is treating them unfairly or they feel left out, they come and tell me.

Recently, my teacher put three kiddos who are facing some challenges right next to me, so I could provide immediate assistance at any given time. Providing such a large amount of support so constantly is really draining. As I'm writing this, I can feel my body telling me that a nap would sounds perfect right about now. I haven't even had dinner nor have I even got to spend much time with my hubster. I don't know what I'm going to do because it's really starting to affect the quality of time that my hubster and I spend together.

Realistically, I'll probably end up just maintaining the amount of dedication I have to the kiddos and just hope that they become more independent. o_0

Red Panda

We saw a red panda last weekend at the zoo. It was just about as cute as the black-footed cat, but we couldn't get a picture of it. Here's one from Cuteoverload:

My Name isn't Nanny

Over this past weekend, we watched Nanny Diaries. I had been looking forward to watching it, especially since they casted Scarlett Johanson in the lead role. I loved Scarlett in the Island and Girl with a Pearl Earring. I also read the book a couple of summers ago and fell in love with little Greyer. Was I disappointed? Most definitely. I thought that there was too much focus on the relationship between Nanny and Harvard Hottie. Greyer wasn't as adorable as I had envisioned it. It just wasn't anywhere close to being as endearing as the book. Despite its shortcomings, I do have a favorite part:

Scene: Nanny and Greyer sitting on the beach in Nantucket.

Greyer: I want to be rich like my daddy.
Nanny: Grove, remember money can't buy you love.
Greyer: Yes it can. Mommy pays you and I love you.

Post Secret (Sun, Jan 27)

Lately, I've been reading Post Secret pretty consistently. The secrets range from being beautifully sentimental, hilarious, and utterly tragic. These are my favorite post cards from this week:

Happy Birthday Carlos!

Yesterday, we had a wonderfully fun-filled day. Carlos and Donna came down to celebrate Carlos' birthday, which was really on Friday. They came late Friday night, so we all played my hubster's Rock Band game on PS2. We also sung him happy birthday and ate a yummy German chocolate cake that my hubster made:

Yep, that's a castle cake with candles in the tower. We used a castle mold that we got for our wedding (Thanks Joseph and Allison). We decided not to put the frosting on it because the outside looked so cool!

On Saturday, we decided to go in search of snow on the pass. It had snowed on Wednesday when we got hit with the heaviest part of the winter storm. You could see snow all over the mountains as you drove on the freeway. Unfortunately, most of the snow was gone when we got up there. We did see the snow and the back mountains.




We were bummed about the snow. As you can tell, we were totally decked out and ready for it. Since we were already up at the pass, we decided to go see Painted Cave with a bunch of Chumash paintings. Apparently, the Indian who painted in the cave stole from the stagecoaches that rolled through.

The interior of the cave.

The exterior of the cave.

My hubster near the moss on outside of the cave.

Since it was close to lunch time, we decided to take Carlos and Donna to Via Vai, where we had a total feast. For starters, we had the bruschetta and the butter lettuce salad. For our entrees, we had Margarita pizza, pizza with proscuitto, mushrooms, and artichokes, and linguine with clams.

Then, we had them bring out a little birthday treat for Carlos. It was the yummiest tiramisu that we had in a LONG time. Our waitress was super sweet and helped with the surprise birthday treat and taking photos. We were all delightfully full. Carlos had a major food coma afterwards. Next stop was the zoo.

Black-Footed Cat
The cutest little guy with a big roar.

Lions
Tabby often has the same facial expression as the male lion.

Giraffes
We couldn't feed the giraffes because they had their back to us the WHOLE time.


Humboldt Penguins
They're making their territorial "OORK" sound.


Blue Iguana
He's seriously blue.


Monitor
He's one of my favorites. He's got a quiet grace about him.

Overall, it was a awesome day even though we didn't go hiking, see the snow, or feed the giraffes.

Tears & Boogers

Today was a somewhat rough day for us and the kiddos. It didn't rain nearly as badly as it did on Wednesday, so we got some exercise and fresh air. However, we had to deal with a couple of meltdowns. Meltdowns have to be one of the hardest aspects of dealing with the kiddos. Your heart goes out to them, but it can be so hard to try to appease them. Between all the tears and drippy boogers, you just don't know what to do or what to say sometimes. They also don't really know how to process all of their feelings, so it gets complicated. Luckily, I was able to help with the meltdowns. After some coaxing and a walk near the big ol' eucalyptus tree, the tears went away. Yay!