Author Archives: carrievoris

How we spent the “last weekend of summer”

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Note: This will not really be in essay form, so sorry to all you teachers out there, but I do have lots of visual aids (photos!) so maybe it will still make the grade?

The “last weekend of the summer” is such a misnomer around here, since we are going on at least a week straight of 100+ (usually 105) degree days here in the valley. Yes, it’s true we don’t have humidity, but dang, it is H-O-T!

So our gracious neighbors left for the weekend to go to the desert (where it is actually cooler, believe it or not!), and we had to poolsit catsit for their kitties, which of course meant we had to test out the pool, too. Emma completed her level of swim lessons last week, so she got to show-off a little for Daddy.

Little side note for a second – she is AWESOME in the pool. I was in serious amazement on Friday when they took the kids over to the “big” pool for their last swim lesson. Em jumped off the diving board by herself, no life jacket, no swimmies, nothing! And then she proceeded to swim, over to the lifeguard and side of the pool. Face in the water, stroking, kicking, by herself! It was really something to watch. I think another 2 weeks and she would be full-on swimming laps. It is crazy, but those swim lessons were the best $30 ever spent. (So cheap, too!!)

So anyhow, Daddy got to hang out and see her swim. We ran some errands and just tried to stay cool on Saturday.

Sunday, Uncle Jeff and Wendy invited us down to her Uncle’s beachhouse…soooo nice! So we spent the day at the nice, cool beach. Well, it was still warm, but the water was perfect, big waves, nice breeze. It was heavenly.

Addie pretty much kept it on the sand –

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But she was very excited and wished Daddy, Mommy and Emma “Good Luck” when we all tried our hand at boogie-boarding.

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Daddy is an “old pro” at this. He got all of the rest of us on boards and helped us get the hang of it.

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And guess who is great at it? Yep, our little “fishy.”

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I think she even got “rolled” a couple of times and maybe drank a few cups of ocean water – but she really loved it. I am guessing next year she will be out on her own board by herself.

It was so much fun, a lot of hard work, and by the end of the day we all trooped home…exhausted.

Monday was spent mostly taking it easy and recovering. Just soaking up all the Daddy we can get.

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I hate it when a holiday falls on a Monday. It messes up our flow and I feel “off” for the rest of the week. And I’m sure the girls will be going through serious “daddy withdrawals” tomorrow.

*Sigh.*

But it was all so worth it.

Don’t Peek! – Best Shot Monday

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My favorite shot from our playgroup/reunion in SF last week. I was hiding this old Easter egg around the yard for them to find. I told them to turn and face the fence and “don’t peek!” While I was trying to find a tricky spot to hide the egg, I looked up and saw this little line-up…

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…but they weren’t peeking! I especially love the two little ones on either end “hiding” their eyes, too. Trying to be like the big girls.

Be sure to swing by Tracey’s for more Best Shot Monday photos!

Don’t Peek! – Best Shot Monday

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My favorite shot from our playgroup/reunion in SF last week. I was hiding this old Easter egg around the yard for them to find. I told them to turn and face the fence and “don’t peek!” While I was trying to find a tricky spot to hide the egg, I looked up and saw this little line-up…

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…but they weren’t peeking! I especially love the two little ones on either end “hiding” their eyes, too. Trying to be like the big girls.

Be sure to swing by Tracey’s for more Best Shot Monday photos!

Weekend Ramblings…Getting Caught Up

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Sorry for the slight lapse in posts, my faithful readers, but it appears that the last week of August has flown by and we have been crazy busy around here. All very fun stuff, but busy nonetheless. We have a Small Change update coming soon, and a Best Shot Monday, and I’m sure some other fun stuff, too. So stay tuned.

We had a great time in SF. I am working on photos, maybe I will actually get them posted tomorrow. I have an absolute favorite that I am saving for BSM – yes, my girls are in it, of course, but it also has all of their newfound friends they made in SF. At one point there were six girls, ages 5, 4, 3.5, 3, 2, and 4 months and one little boy, age 2, who was thinking it was pretty hip to be surrounded by all of those girls. My girls had a great time, and Em even asked me on the way home when we can go back to visit San Francisco again. So, yes, it was a successful trip.

And it was so great to see my “girls,” too! It was like we had never all left our old jobs, had kids, moved halfway across the United States and back again, we just fell back into step. Check out the photo Em took of us…

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Pretty darn good photo, huh? And some good lookin’ Mamas, too!

So anyways, we are back, and we have Daddy home ALL weekend long. So you can understand why there hasn’t been, and will not be, many posts for the next few days. We are soaking up as much Daddy as we can.

Hope your weekend is relaxing and fun, too!

I Left My Heart…

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So this is where I left it! In San Francisco, of course, all those many years ago.

Man, I forgot how much I love this city. It really is quite possibly my favorite city, ever. (Well, ok…my favorite city in the U.S.)

All of my anxiety about traveling here with the girls was for nothing, of course. And every corner of this city holds a special little place in my heart, a funny story, a great memory. I really, really do love it here.

The girls were amazing little traveling troopers today. It was totally Trains, Planes, and Automobiles. We drove to Burbank airport, (Which I must say has my vote for best “big city” airport, ever! So easy, so clean, such helpful employees, and such happy travelers there!) flew the short little hop to Oakland, caught the AirBart bus to the BART station, took the subway into the city, and then walked the few blocks to our hotel. We later hopped a cable car to the Wharf and a taxicab back to the hotel.  I think if I could have talked the girls into a horse-drawn carriage ride, we would have hit every possible mode of transportation in one day. And even better, it was a “spare the air” day, so all of the public transit in SF was free! How lucky was that?

But back to this hotel. It is phenomenal. Totally tiny little suite, but the “kid’s room” is the coolest thing ever. It has dress-up clothes, an iMac, DVDs (with the requisite High School Musical, of course!), CD players with all kinds of kid’s music, a giant table with a huge drawer of blocks, and…the best part…bunkbeds! I thought Em was going to wet her pants when she walked into the room. She made several trips up there to stake her claim and was so excited that it was all she talked about.

So where is she right now?

Asleep in the bed right next to me.  Apparently Addie was making too much noise for her, so I told her to go lay in my bed until I got A. asleep. Thirty-five minutes later, A. finally crashed, I came back out and E. was long gone as well. There is no way I can get her up into the top bunk, so I guess she is crashing here with me tonight.

Both of them are exhausted. No naps, non-stop excitement, and a great new city. Who can blame them? I am, too.  But I have a little work to do before I can call it a night, so I’m off. I’ll try to finish up the details and post photos tomorrow.

SF-bound

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The girls and I are headed up to San Francisco tomorrow. We are just going for a few days to have a little reunion with all of my ex-DigitalThink friends. I’m so excited to see all the girls and all of their kids! The last time we all saw each other, we were working 80+ hour weeks with no kids. A lot has changed in the past five years!

I can’t figure out why I feel so anxious about this trip. We lived in SF for 8 years, so I know the city, and I know it well. I love big cities and visiting them. The airplane ride is only one hour, which is oh…about 4 hours less than our normal plane rides. The girls have been really, really good this week – so I know I can handle them and I doubt there will be any major meltdowns.

So I guess it is just the jitters. Or maybe the excitement. At any rate, wish me luck.

Crafty Tuesday

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We are at it again…a little more craftiness and with these three layouts, I think Ad’s book is just about done! I mean, I have oodles of photos, I could keep going and going, but I think I’ll switch over and start doing layouts for 2006, and start including Em in the layouts. For all intensive purposes, I caught most of A.’s major milestones and holidays, so I’m calling it d-o-n-e.

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A’s first Halloween. She was a lil’ pumpkin.

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Her first Easter. I actually got this “kit” with pretty, pretty paper perfect for Easter, from my friend Kimmer. I improvised on a few things and didn’t do it like the kit suggested, but I think that is part of the fun and it turned out alright.

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I love this layout. Let’s see how many photos we can cram on a page. I think I got about half of my favorites from Ad’s first Christmas. There were a lot of potentials. But I love, love, love the vintage paper…it is very fun.

What about you? Got something to share? Some craftiness you are itching to show the world? Leave a comment with a link to your goods.

Serious trip to the Park – Best Shot Monday

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The girls were very subdued at the park yesterday. Lots of serious, “thinking” shots. I had one of Ad all picked out because it made me laugh out loud when I brought it up. And then I came across this one.

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I am always surprised when I come across a photo of the girls that literally takes my breath away. Just an opportunity to stop and admire innocence and beauty for a moment. To forget about the frustrations and trials of the week, and just have that “breathtaking” pause of peace.

Okay, because I cannot resist, I will put up two this week. This was my original BSM before I fell in love with the one of Em.

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That is a classic A. look. She is mad because her Crocs are full of sand. It cracks me up everytime I look at. Seriously, I get this look. A lot.

The rest of our park photos are up at Flickr and for more great BSM photos, hop over to Tracey’s.

Hula Ballerina

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More from our prima ballerina. Yesterday was their summer dance recital and Em did wonderfully, of course. She is a true performer, lost her grass skirt at the end of the piece, but still managed to get it back on and finish up the dance, bows, etc. Miss Claire’s “she is a such a trooper” comment is about Em, so definitely watch til the end! It is cute.

The video:

I’m working on getting some pics up, too. For now, here is my favorite one of the day. She seriously looks like she is twice her age, so tall, perfect form. Looks like a true ballerina.

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We stayed to watch the little dancers (ages 2-3), which is the class that Addie will be in this fall. She has Miss Claire right now for a little music and dance class, so she knows and loves Miss Claire already. Anyhow, as the little girls were doing their dance, everything Miss Claire was telling them to do, Addie would do on my lap. She was following directions better than half of the dancers on stage!

I’m so very excited to have two little ballerinas in the house. Yes, I always wanted to be a ballet dancer. I think I might be living a little bit vicariously through the girls in this aspect, but as long as they love it, too, it isn’t really hurting anyone, right?