Ringlein Remnants

First Day of School

2011-08-31T00:38:00.000-07:00

Here she is - my big Kindergartner, Hope. Yesterday was the first day of school, and Hope had been excited all summer long to be starting Kindergarten. For the last week she has been counting down days, we picked out her outfits for the week, and then it finally came. She was a little reserved when I dropped her off, but with a little coaxing (and no tears) she went her way. Day two went just as smoothly today and I think this is a good way to start the school year. Hope is attending Kennedy Elementary, the very same school her daddy went to, so that's pretty exciting for her too. Her sweet teacher even sent home a little crafty poem for the parents on the first day that might have needed their own comfort too (something going along with a bag of tea). Now if I can just get used to getting my own self to bed at a reasonable time so I can be ready for morning, we really will have a good year.

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband, Andrew. I'm so glad to have been blessed to raise three beautiful daughters with a sweet and intelligent man. Here's the breakfast I made for Andrew, next to his favorite, root beer. The tie pic in his hashbrowns is a free printable from Shindig Parties.

I saw this clever idea online at Oopsey Daisy Blog to make "pop" wrappers for the soda-loving daddies. She had a printable Coke wrapper that was inspiring, but Andrew is more of a root beer fan so I decided to do my own version.

The Nutrition Facts I adopted from Oopsey Daisy, she did them so well.

If you started your family in 2006 (the A&W logo says "since 1919", so we changed ours to since 2006), you're welcome to use this file. We used the mini cans (we found ours at Target). You can download it here.

Preschool Graduate

2011-06-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

Hope has officially graduated from Preschool. We had her in a two-day a week program that she has really come to enjoy. It has helped her get used to the classroom routine and ready for Kindergarten. She'll be a young Kindergartener (next year they're bumping the birthday cutoff earlier), but we feel that she is ready. I don't know who is more excited, Hope or myself. She's pretty excited that she'll get to attend the same Elementary School that her daddy went to.

I'm not super into the ceremony of the whole thing, but her class performed a couple of cute songs which is always fun.

Here's Hope and her teacher.

I put together a goldfish snack, and using the patriotic ones that are in stores now, went with the One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish idea. Here's how they came out.

I also signed up to bring a dessert and decided to try cupcakes in Ice Cream Cones for the first time. The novelty of it was pretty cool for the kids, but as usually they liked the frosting best. Note: very simple to try, you just put the batter straight in the cones and put the cones in a muffin tin so they have something to stand up in when you put them in the oven. The super hard part is the transportation because they kept falling over in the tin in the car (and yes, I was driving carefully).

Happy Easter

2011-05-09T00:23:00.000-07:00

The girls were pretty spoiled this year with three Easter egg hunts. Fortunately, the candy somehow disappeared and we managed to make it through without too many sugar crashes. Here are some pics from our Easter events. Here we are Egg dying with cousin, Giselle. I found a couple of great tips online, first, to use puppy pads (for potty training puppies) for easy cleanup for spills. It worked great, we laid it across our dying surface and it soaked up the spills right away. Second, to use a muffin tin for drying eggs. We still ended up putting some in the carton because each girl had her own segmented carton, but it just gets soggy with the dye that drains off of it. Maybe next year we'll have a muffin tin for each girl to put her eggs in. I liked the idea, because it'll drain off into the tin without getting the carton soggy.

Serious hunting...

Face full of anticipation

I found an egg...in your basket

"Let me know when you find them all, I'll be on the slide" - Grace

I can't even remember what bossy comment she was saying, and frankly I don't know if I even heard her over my laughter at her expression. The hands-on-hips stance is getting more frequent around here.

Grace's First Shiner

2011-05-09T00:04:00.000-07:00

Exactly two days after her second birthday, and happy birthday pictures, Grace fell on the cement and hit her head. The bump on her forehead, drained down to her eye and in a matter of hours she had a black eye. Hope commented that evening that Grace's eye "had a rainbow over it." Another day or two later and it just kept looking worse. Here's the t-shirt I made for the occasion and the shiner in all it's glory.

Changes in the Girls' Room

2011-05-08T23:56:00.000-07:00

Last month we made some changes in the Girls' room, the most noticeable one was a bunk/loft bed for Hope and the twins. I had been looking at this bed about a year ago, and happened to think about it again and looked on Craigslist at the right time and found an amazing deal that I couldn't pass up. So, here's the Doll House Loft bed. The twins sleep on the bottom, and Hope loves her Big Girl bed on the top. I love that everyone is excited about their own bed, not that I don't make visits when getting girls settled down.

Here's Hope peeking through her top bunk window.

Here are all three girls up on Hope's bunk.

And here's the other change I made. Hope has her own dresser and that's fine for her. For a while, with the twins clothes, I had three large baskets and I would simply sort their clothes into tops, bottoms, and pajamas. But then I felt like I was looking for things within the baskets a lot, or I'd find one top from a set, but not the coordinating top for her sister, which is frustrating when you know you have it. So, thanks to Janine (another twin mom friend of mine) who said she hung all her twin's clothes up in sets, I was inspired to do the same. Things are a lot more organized and easy to find coordinating sets. Although, now Joy and Grace think they get to have more input in what they wear and try to pick things out without considering mommy's selling points, such as, how easily can they take off these clothes or will their knees get skinned up at the park in this outfit? Skinned knees have been a more frequent occurrence lately and create a lot of drama because neither Joy nor Grace wants to wear a band-aid, and they both can't handle seeing the boo-boo and persistently try to pull their clothes down to cover it. If they're wearing a dress, they're pulling it down every time they sit down. I made the mistake of dressing in Joy in short pajamas one night forgetting about the boo-boo and had to go change her into pants because she was so distressed that she couldn't pull her shorts down to cover the boo-boo on her knee.

Birthday on the Farm

2011-04-05T22:25:00.000-07:00

Since Joy and Grace were babies, we've been taking them to Ardenwood Historic Farm, minutes from our house. Periodically they have special Toddler Time sessions where the little ones hear a story about a farm animal, grind corn, and feed farm animals. Both girls love feeding the animals

and seeing all the different farm animals. It was only fitting that we should celebrate their birthday on the farm.

We met at the gazebo, and I made a no-sew banner (that matched the invite) for decoration with a simple, country feel.

We started off singing "Old McDonald Had a Farm" with some farm animal puppets and read/sang the story of "The Farmer and the Dell" for the kids.

Then we joined the Toddler Time story and saw the various animals on the farm - I think they mentioned they had 13 lambs this springtime! We made our way round to the chickens and fed them and the goats freshly ground corn, grown on the farm.

We made our way back to the gazebo and enjoyed lunches packed in felt farms (Thank you, Target $1 section - what a find!). I kept the lunches simple with Uncrustables PB&J sandwhiches, carrot sticks, apple slices, and a juice box. When everyone was done with their lunch, we filled their barns with a small farm board book, a farm animal that made a sound (horse said neigh, etc), and organic popping corn grown on the farm. We also sent everyone home with a Farm foam sticker kit.

After lunch, the kids enjoyed a little bubble time and playing in the grass. Then we sang and enjoyed birthday cake. I saw this idea in a party book for this darling graham cracker barn and silo, and knew immediately that I wanted to top the cake with that. We used our Little People farm animals to complete the farm scene on the top of the cake.

This was such a gorgeous day, we couldn't pass up this lovely field of yellow flowers.

I owe a huge THANK YOU to Albena for taking these beautiful pictures. I also owe a big THANK YOU to my mom, who made these darling dresses for Joy and Grace.

It's hard to believe these sweet little girls are two, but I truly feel blessed to have the privilege to be their mother. It's been a crazy, but enjoyable ride so far and I look forward to the fun times ahead!

"When Do I Get Scriptures"

2011-01-22T00:34:00.000-08:00

Hope is officially no longer a Sunbeam. Last year she sort of adopted herself into the CTR class at church with the other kids that were turning five and older that year because she wanted to be with her BFF, Sara. No, she didn't actually use the term, BFF, but Hope loves and looks up to Sara. As I went to sit with Hope for the first few minutes of Opening Exercises last Sunday, I saw that Dawna has a set of scriptures that she was beaming about. She gladly tells about her scriptures, and the case she was given, as well as the pencil that goes in the case. So sweet. So, fast forward a couple nights later...Hope has been fevered on and off for a couple days and it makes for not entirely peaceful slumbers (big surprise in our house, I know). So, I hear her get up, thinking she needs to go to the bathroom, and instead when I get to her door, she's standing in the doorway asking about something. "Do you need to go to the bathroom?" No. "Do you want a drink of water?" No. So, I listen again to what's she's mumbling, and I think she must be sleeping still, or dreaming, or have just been dreaming, because she says, "when do I get scriptures?" I can't deny that, so I say tomorrow. I pat her back to sleep, and start on this project that I've been wanting to do for awhile and just been putting off. You know I'm always looking for an excuse to make something cute (and avoid laundry), so, I stumbled upon this scripture cover tutorial a while ago, and finally completed it tonight. I didn't add the tie, because I don't think Hope needs to tie and untie her scriptures, but I'm pleased with how they came out. She's actually been excited to read her scriptures too, so I'm getting called out on another shortcoming. Well, that's what January is for, right? Recommitting to all those things you've been meaning to get better at.

Bedtime Rituals

2010-12-05T20:11:00.001-08:00

It is with great certainty that I confess that I am terrible about bedtime routines, rituals, and practice. I regret that I did not take a picture of Hope asleep in her high chair last night, but a few weeks ago she fell asleep on the stairs while I was putting the twins to sleep. I heard her hollering out, but she refused to go with Grandma and insisted she didn't want to lay down with the twins...but she finally gave out on the stairs. Documented.

New Skills for the Twins

2010-12-05T19:42:00.000-08:00

I'm normally not a fan of bare bum shots, but it's been happening with more frequency in our home lately, so I could hardly not mention it. I believe it started with Grace gaining the agility to remove her clothing, and then Joy followed closely behind. A few weeks ago, Grace decided to have breakfast in the buff, here she is casually eating her yogurt with no regard that she has not a stitch of clothing on. Then last week, they both removed their clothing after getting dressed for the day. I grabbed the camera and this was the most posed shot I've ever gotten, they must have been so proud. Grace even went down on one knee for her pose. Grandma Dori, felt their behinds were too adorable to miss, so we had to open the fridge as a distraction for them to turn away from the camera.

Puppy Party

2010-12-05T19:16:00.000-08:00

Happy 4th Birthday to Hope! Over the past year, Hope has had a certain obsession with puppies. We brought several with us on our trip to Michigan this summer and she tormented her cousins with Hide-and-Seek puppies. I think she has at least ten, all with their own names. So, our puppy theme was perfect. We started with adorable invites for an Adopt-a-Puppy party. Special credit goes to Designing and Motherhood blog for posting this cute idea that I used.

We got puppies from Oriental Trading and each child picked their own puppy to adopt. We even made little puppy carriers for each one.

When each child arrived, they filled out a certificate with their new puppy's name, fur color, eye color, etc, and swore before a witness that they would love and take care of their puppy as its new owner (adapted from a Cabbage Patch Doll certificate).

We had a vet check station, where puppies could receive their shots and make sure they were healthy.

We had a "Make a Collar" station where each child made a jeweled collar and groomed their doggy.

We had a snack station, where guests could enjoy "Kibbles and Bits" with their puppies. We used small cat food bowls for them to serve their snacks in.

A family friend helped make these absolutely adorable puppy cupcakes. She gets extra credit for making such a great variety of different puppies.

We had a station where guests could pose for a photo op with their puppy.

In addition to taking their puppy home, we had favors for each guest including candy dog bones, a puppy ball, puppy puzzle, and a mini flashlight for walking your doggy.

I had such a fun time planning this party, and Hope had a great time too.

I Do Believe in Fairies

2010-11-11T20:29:00.000-08:00

It turns out that raising three little girls takes up more time and energy than a mission around the moon and what I'm left with at the end of the day is about enough to eat a bowl of ice cream and watch a favorite tv show without falling asleep 50% of the time. Writing a journaling blog of the cute things those girls are doing just hasn't made the cut of things to get done in the day. Then so much time passes that it's just embarrassing to write something and try to cover all that you've missed. So, I'll work on mostly current, and try to keep up.

Early in October Disney released Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue. This movie entered our home and immediately captured Hope's heart, which in turn captured Andrew's heart as well. On their next walk to the lake

near our home, they found branches and leaves and flowers and made a Fairy house. Soon our home was overrun with Fairy houses as well. Not long after that, Grandma Dori bought three fairy dresses and Andrew wanted to surprise Hope with hers down at the Lake (by their Fairy House) and then in turn have her find dresses for Joy and Grace in our own yard. Here's the note that Tinker Bell wrote:

I had a clever Halloween costume for all the girls, but Hope had become so enraptured with Tinker Bell that she started telling her preschool teacher that she was going to be Tinker Bell for Halloween and the rest is history. So, for Halloween, Hope was Tinker Bell, and Joy and Grace were also Fairies - I think Hope called them Rosetta and Silvermist. We had a Halloween party with the local twin mom group and I think half the party was made up of Fairies. Our cousin, Giselle, even ended up in a fairy costume when we went trick or treating on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. I don't know how long the magic of fairies will last, but it's delightful to see Hope enjoying something with her sisters.

"Multiples" of fairies
(terrible background editing, but a cute shot with all the girls)

Ready for the some trick or treating

After Piedmont Avenue activities, enjoying our loot

Speaking of Hope and her sisters - they mimic her so much. Today she was clever enough to stand on a basket and plop herself into a chair. Immediately, both Joy and Grace had to try the trick as well. Just yesterday, Grace mastered clearly saying, "Hope." They are all three growing so fast. It's hard to keep up.

Lake Temescal Summer Fun

2010-06-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

We adventured to the beach swimming at Lake Temescal this week. It was Grace and Joy's first sandy beach/lake experience and they loved it. We've been hitting the pool and getting comfortable in the water and they were great. Hope had lots of fun getting completely sandy. Instead of the seagulls eating our food at the ocean, we had ducks that came by our blanket to see what scraps they could get. I liked it better than the ocean, because the water was warm and the girls could go in easily, there wasn't an undertoe that we had to worry about with the kids, and the weather was perfect!

Summer Is On Its Way

2010-04-25T23:01:00.000-07:00

Mandy has this great practice of playing on her patio in swimsuits on hot days. Hope has been over to her house recently on a couple of our hot spring days, and she thinks she must change into her suit too. Here are all the girls enjoying playing in their swimsuits. Thanks, Grandma Linda, for the water table - it's so much fun! We are looking forward to enjoying it all summer long.

Dr. Seuss Birthday Theme - Thing One and Thing Two

2010-03-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun with this "Thing One and Thing Two" theme for the twins' birthday party. In case you can't recall, Thing One and Thing Two are from Dr. Seuss' "Cat in the Hat" book, but we rounded the party out with all kinds of Seuss. Because we mostly had adults (they're the ones I owe big thanks to for help during the first year) I made tags with names of Dr. Seuss books to put on people's backs for them to ask 'yes or no' questions to guess what book was on their back. Many of us realized just how many Dr. Seuss books are that we forgot about. I also had pictures of the twins during their first year hanging from paper lanterns and the other game we had was to put the pictures in chronological order. My niece, Jackie, got six out of ten right and she won a goldfish (remember the fish in the bowl from "Cat in the Hat" - he was at the party too). I put together favors with a blank Dr. Seuss mini-book, bookmark, and mechanical pencil. I found a fun idea for centerpieces online that had Gerber Daisies and a brightly colored boa - very Seuss-like. Thanks to Tracy for making a fun Cat in the Hat cake - I can't believe I managed to miss taking a picture, I really meant to. She took the idea and ran with it and I loved her finished product. She also made individual "Thing One" and "Thing Two" cakes for each twin. The cake was Red Velvet Cake and went with the bright colors we had for the party. Joy and especially Grace very much enjoyed the cake - they started a little timid but we're very thrilled by the end, Grace even managed to get it in her hair. I also had Grandma Dori make special shirts for the girls out of Thing One and Thing Two fabric, very sweet. (Mom and Dad both had Cat in the Hat shirts too!) Oh, and I couldn't forget to thank Stephanie for her photography - it was such a beautiful day that everything looked so vibrant and beautiful. Her candid shots were excellent!

Happy 1st Birthday, Joy and Grace

2010-03-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, our precious Joy and Grace arrived and changed our world. It was definitely challenging in the beginning, but I had so much support that I can't help but feel incredibly blessed. Grandma Dori has been so helpful with cooking among so many other things; Grandma Linda stayed with us for the first month (or so) after they were born - and would even sleep with a baby and help with night feedings. This year really has flown by and there have been many delightful points. Many people at my church were supportive with holding babies and giving me a break. The Thorsen Family have become especially dear to my heart for all the love and cuddles they've given to Joy and Grace (and all the breaks they've given me). I'm sure this first year would have been much more difficult without them.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

2010-03-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

And isn't it just heavenly, when your little angels are sleeping? I admit, there is a tiny pang of guilt at just how much joy I feel when my girls are sleeping. We recently decided to toss out the vacant crib and toddler bed, and just go for one big bed for all the girls. I think it's working out well so far. I go in and out of the bed during the night to nurse the twins, who seem more interested in nursing in the night than during the day. They are seeming to nurse less and less during the day. I know it'd probably be good to work on night weaning - if anybody knows of a way to do this without causing a lot of turmoil - I'm open to suggestions.

ANGELA WINS GOLD IN HOPE/BABY RELAY

2010-02-17T22:02:00.000-08:00

Tonight for the first time Angela won a gold medal in the Hope/Baby relay. Let me recap the action.

Its 9:21 at night, the opening bell is sounded, Hope gets out of bed upstairs and makes a faint sound. Angela has sharp ears from competing in this event many times, she knows immediately what’s at stake. She springs to her feet determined to get to Hope before she fully wakes up, cries, and wakes the Twins, creating a trifecta of awake children at 9:21.

Angela turns and performs the dangerous Baby Chuck by tossing Grace 3 feet laterally into my arms. Too risky you say? What mother throws her sleeping baby 3 feet into the arms of her clumsy and sleepy husband? One who is trying for the Gold Metal. A woman who knows what’s at stake. God gave us twins for a reason, so we’d have a spare, we can take these kinds of risks.

Then without hesitating this fearless competitor spins, slides across our hardwood floor, nimbly dodging a pink shopping cart, a pink dollhouse and 2 pink purses, she reaches the stairs in record time.

Now Angela vaults over the ottoman blocking the stairway from crawling babies, and she is now at the most difficult part of the track. The silent stair run. Many a past competitor has run up the stairs, only to wake the baby sleeping in the pink crib next to the stairs. Many competitors have also walked quietly up the stairs, only to reach Hope too late, after she has awoken fully and started crying.

Angela performs the silent run, maintaining a full run up the stairs without making any loud sounds. With the agility of a shoulin monk, she reaches the top of the stairs before Hope, and without waking any children. She scoops Hope into her arms and soothes her back to sleep.

The time is now 9:21:17:05

Gold Medal.

--Andrew

Once there was a Snowman

2010-01-22T21:05:00.000-08:00

Just before the new year, we went to the snow for Hope's first time. Max and Ruby live in the snow, Dora Saves a Snow Princess, even The Little Einsteins visit Mount Everest. We needed to show her some real snow. The drive was long there and even longer back with Hope saying, "I wanna go home," and us replying "yes, honey, we're going home" until she finally gave in and went to sleep exhausted. It was worth it for Hope, she had a good time experiencing snow, sledding a little (very little), and building a snowman.

Hope and Andrew were playing a little game together and this just caught his expression perfectly.

This caught the babies expression perfectly and how they really felt about snow. Note to self: carrying two babies in snow suits is hard. They can't bend their bodies to do their normal monkey cling to your body. Balancing two babies on a sled is an easier method to move them, but just as hard to try and keep them from eating snow.

This was the beginning of their snowman, and had I not been occupied with holding babies, I'd like to think that I would have shown him how to really build a snowman, but still it's an 'A' for effort. I love that Hope and Andrew have identical expressions in this picture, she's her father's daughter.

Just trying to keep everyone from crying.

The snowman got a little more life when they added a face and arms. Next time Andrew says we will remember the carrot.

This week has been a crazy weather week. I've enjoyed the storms that have come in this week. We've had a little lightning and thunder, a couple of rainbows, and today, yes, snow.

We even got ambitious and built our little California snowman. We even had a carrot!

And when she was good

2010-01-05T11:26:00.001-08:00

As the twins were napping (at the same time) this morning, I realized I had better seize the opportunity fast and take a shower while I could. I put on Baby Einsteins and let Hope know I was taking a shower, and left the door open so I could hear any disrepair. A little bit later she came by the bathroom door dragging an empty laundry basket and said cheerfully, "I'm doing laundry." To which I replied, "there are towels in the dryer you can fold." She must have gone to check because she came back to make sure and said, "it's okay I can fold laundry?" Yes, definitely yes. This is the sight I came out to when my shower was done. She only made it through one washcloth, but her heart was in the right place.

She looks like she's concentrating so hard to get the fold just right.
Later, she came in and said, "I came here to help you" when I was unloading the dishwasher. She actually was helpful and put away all the silverware, singing as she went, "forks go here, spoons go here..."

Jealous Much?

2010-01-04T15:12:00.000-08:00

Oh, my sweet Hope. She has been such a good big sister. Such a trooper. So supportive of the changes in her life that come with not one but two little sisters at the same time. People ask if she's jealous, and I always reply, "no, she's a good big sister." And she is. When she really forgets about the whole big and little sister thing, and they all play together - there is nothing sweeter. However, I think she is not ready to give up her place in mommy's (or daddy's) heart.
I know there are families with lots of kids, and I have so much respect for the parents. I can't tell you how many times a day I find myself saying, "no I can't do that right now, I have to feed the babies" or change the babies or bathe the babies or fill in the blank. And I do try to take time to do activities with just Hope, but it's hard, and I feel a little stab of guilt every time I have to say no. I think mornings and evenings are when she feels it most; when we're getting up or going to bed, because there's the stairs. I wait for her to wake up so she doesn't have to wake up by herself, and inevitably she asks to be carried downstairs. I try to negotiate, can we walk together and count the stairs? No, carry me. Ug. How long do I still need to carry her downstairs? (Thank goodness she's only 28 lbs). Am I supposed to put my foot down and listen to the crying that will definitely follow if I refuse. I tell her I need to take the babies downstairs because I can't leave them upstairs by themselves, and then I come back upstairs to carry her down. I am such a sucker. Is it printed there on my forehead? I think this is a direct attention thing, the babies get carried downstairs, surely Hope must too. I know how to negotiate toys - these toys are meant for the babies, you have toys that are just yours, so these toys must be shared with the babies. But how do you negotiate your own energy? I think this is why Hope does not want to be a big girl. She does not want to go in the big girl potty. She does not want to sleep in her big girl bed. She wants to remain Mommy and Daddy's little girl. We've tried bribery in many forms to no avail. Even if the babies are sleeping in their bed, it doesn't matter, Hope still wants to be in Mommy and Daddy's bed. I read on Ask Moxie (yes, another blog) about two different types of babies in reference to crying. The first is the type that releases tension by crying. The second is a child that increases tension when crying. The first child is the kind that you put it to bed, it cries a little bit, but then once it releases that, the child can settle down and go to sleep. Unfortunately, I think all of my children are the latter. It seems that if I lay down a crying child, they increase their tension. So, I know that Hope is three years old, but even her, if she's sleepy and ready for bed, and I go to lay her in her big girl bed, she starts crying and that tension increases and she gets all worked up. Now, I know that if I were a hard-nosed parent, I would walk away and assume that she's going to just have to simper down eventually. But that is oh-so-very-hard. And I just don't think it's in me. So, yes, I know I'm left with the alternative and that is a toddler sharing my bed. It's not ideal, but we'll resolve it eventually. Maybe by the time she's a teenager. My own personal feeling is that, I don't like sleeping alone, is it so wrong that maybe she doesn't either? I think all of this just came together at once - focusing on Hope being a big girl, but trying not to replace Hope with the twins. That's parenting though, right?

Addicted to Blogs

2010-01-02T21:39:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's sad, but true that I have a blog addiction. It could be because it's one thing I can do while holding two babies (yes, America does have talent), but it seems I could take up hours daily roaming from one blog to another. Am I catching up on all the latest and greatest in my dear friends lives who take the time to update their family blogs? Oh no. My addiction started with craft blogs, I enjoyed dreaming of all the crafts that I could do if I could ever walk away from my computer. But in the past several months, I adopted a new favorite - Mommy blogs. Who knew there was such a category? One good thing has come of this. I'm inspired to blog more (no, that is not a New Year's resolution - I refuse to make those). For those of you that keep your blog up to date that are shaking your heads at me, I'd like to point out, I'm not as bad as an unnamed friend whose last post was Dec 21, 2008 - and that was a post about Thanksgiving. (I guess FB has replaced her blog - boo).

So here are my top two Mommy blogs (both of them from Babble's list of top mommybloggers). I feel like both of these bloggers have hit my parenting style (or lack thereof) on the head. I have literally "laughed out loud" several times while reading these blogs, they're just so confessional and humorous in their manner.

1. Dooce.com

from Babble: In Heather Armstrong's words, "The chaos in our house is unreal." On Dooce, Armstrong channels that chaos through brutally honest, sardonic blog posts generating millions of visitors. Blending her biting wit with photos worthy of forwarding and an "all's fair" policy, Dooce has defined the mommy blogosphere since 2001. Along with raking in enough cashola to be the sole breadwinner, she's earned awards for Best American Blog, Best Design ed Blog, Best Writing for a Blog, Weblog of the Year and, in 2008, the Weblog's Lifetime Achievement award. In between blogging, Armstrong wrote the bestselling book It Sucked and then I Cried about her post-partum depression.

Armstrong's cross-over to the lush blog-only lifestyle was not voluntary. Now the stuff of legend, she was fired from her job after her merciless musings about her employer and her coworkers surfaced. She became what is now referred to as "dooced" — let go for negative job ramblings on the web.

2. Mom-101
from Babble:

One of Nielsen's 50 Power Moms and Forbes' Top 10 Mommy 'Hood Gurus, publisher/editor-in-chief of Cool Mom Picks, Brooklyn Heights-based Liz Gumbinner might look like another trendy blogging mama, but as she commented to the New York Post: "I'm kind of tired of the 'indie hipster smirking at the world around you' thing . . . cynicism has its place when you're, like, 20 and raging against the world, but once you become a parent, I think you owe your kids a little better than that."

Gumbinner's famous for her writing on Mom 101 about the sanctimommy trend; in her blog post she describes a particular breed of judgmental mom: "She has read every baby book, and has decided that her expert of choice is the expert and that heeding any other parenting theories is akin to worshipping false idols." Gumbinner's objectives — to put people at ease, not channel sanctimommy, and to post (often loudy) "I AM NOT READY FOR THIS" about new parenting trials — make for a lively read.

Happy 3rd Birthday Hope

2009-12-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

Hope is very excited about her ABCs this year, so I had fun with an ABC theme for her party. I made cupcake piks for mini cupcakes with each letter of the alphabet. I hung pictures of Hope for each I made various signs for the snacks like "L is for lemonade" or "P is for pasta." I found some ABC pasta. We cut sandwiches into the letter H for Hope. Our activities included making necklaces or bracelets with letter beads to spell our names, stamping with letter stamps, fishing for magnetic letters, and "puzzle walk" that had one letter of the alphabet for each puzzle piece to make up an alphabet train - when the music would stop, each child got a puzzle piece to hold on to in order to put the puzzle together in the end. After cake and presents I read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and then we did some dancing and twirling to some alphabet songs. Overall, a very fun party!

Happy Halloween

2009-10-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you that haven't checked out my FB pics, here's some Halloween pics we took of the girls. I planned to try and take pics at the pumpkin patch, but the twins fell asleep and I forgot my memory card, so that flopped. Instead we did a quick backyard session. Hope had fun keeping the pumpkins away from the babies, the babies enjoyed crawling over each other. Altogether, I think it was a success.

(yes, that's Joy putting Grace in a headlock)

I put together a video of things that the twins are doing right now - they're definitely crawling, they're almost sitting up (Grace more than Joy), they eat solid food...sometimes they're even coordinated enough to grab food and get it into their mouths and so much more. We're still not sleeping through the night, but they're enjoying so many other things...so what's a little lost sleep, right?

Twain Harte

2009-09-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

We had a nice visit to Twain Harte this summer. We enjoyed being lazy by the lake, miniature golfing, dipped "cones," roasting marshmallows - all the favorite pastimes. Jim and I both celebrated out birthdays there (thank you, Maria, for the birthday crown).

Jim and Angela, August Birthdays

Grace chilling in Hope's float

Grandma Linda and Joy

Hope enjoying her float

Grandma Linda and Grace and Joy - we're so glad she came to Twain Harte too, she was a tremendous help!

Seattle and Family pics

2009-06-26T20:09:00.001-07:00

I can't believe how fast time flies. I started this post, and then some babies probably started crying and I never got back to it. Having two little babies can be demanding - I love them so much, but it's exhausting and some days I feel like I'm either holding them or feeding them all day long. Hope is so patient and very helpful as a big sister. She loves cuddling them and laying down with them - she can hardly wait until they really can play more interactively with her. I feel like the babies are good for the most part, but they take turns being colicky or gassy.

Last month we went to a beautiful wedding in Portland for my high school friend, Margie. So we debated the different methods of traveling there and ultimately ended up driving for its cost-effectiveness. Going there was pretty simple, we stopped every few hours to feed the babies and it went pretty smoothly. After the wedding we drove the remaining few hours to Seattle to visit our friends, the Lewis'. Vicki is a very talented artist and photographer, and it was generous of her to offer to take our family photos. A few of my favorite shots are below. It felt like old times (before kids - other than the struggle to get the two-year-olds to bed that disrupted our evening) as we chatted and played games with them and we had a really great visit. The Lewis family is a good example to ours and we're happy to have kept in touch with them. We naively decided to take the return trip in one jaunt and had a much tougher time on the return. I think we were all more ragged from the journey and the final three hours of the trip we all just wanted to be home. We definitely want to go again, but maybe we'll take two days each way for traveling.

I know, I know...

2009-06-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

So, now this has become somewhat like my personal journal-keeping...I get behind, and so much has happened that I feel I should try and catch up and then I don't write the current stuff and becomes so far behind. In short, the babies and I are doing well. I only keep my sanity through the generous support of family. My mother-in-law makes sure we're fed, my mom comes once a week for a couple of days and is an immense help with the twins. Joy and Grace are doing well, starting to be more expressive at nearly 10 weeks and enjoying more awake time. Not to say they haven't had their moments (which seem like hours if it's both of them crying at the same time), but overall we feel very blessed.

I have managed to venture out of the house - sometimes with help, sometimes not - and it's kind of fun the attention that twins draw. Who knew it was still such a novelty that you feel like a mini-celebrity with the looks that you get and all the people that stop you.

Anyhow, last weekend was my friend Misty's wedding. It was a beautiful day and I'm so very happy for her and Robert. Below is a pic of Hope that Stephanie took, and I felt it encompassed Hope perfectly right now. She looks all sweet and innocent, but you know, she just might be plotting something sneaky too. I'll try to be better about posting more regularly.

Ready or not...

2009-04-02T21:28:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to add a quick post and photo. This past Sunday morning, Joy and Grace arrived. Joy weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and Grace weighed 5 lbs 8 oz. Big sister, Hope, is very excited to have two baby sisters!

Tea Party Shower

2009-02-23T19:04:00.000-08:00

So, I've had mixed feelings about having a shower for a second and third girl. One the one hand, I do have plenty of Hope's clothes that will work just fine for Grace and Joy (have we mentioned that's what we're naming the twins?). But on the other hand, it's fun to celebrate the birth of any child. So, with another playgroup friend of mine, Mimi, that is pregnant too - we decided to have a playgroup tea party shower for each other. It was a small and simple shower, but mostly fun to just get together. Mimi did a wonderful job on the food, and I got to take care of the fun stuff I like to do anyway, like decorations and favors. Here are some pics from the occasion below.

Thanks to my mother-in-law for her fun teapot collection.I had a fun time coming up with and making these favors. Tea bags seemed the appropriate favor. I used a shipping label (since I have a bunch of extras) to make a tag for each of the tea bags, with a picture I came up with resembling Mimi and I. It said "Babies are Brewing" and then the whole Mimi and Angela's Baby Shower and the date, etc. Then I made these boxes out of scrapbook paper, I liked the idea I found online to cut a window in the front, and I taped cellophane inside so you could peek in at the tea bags.
Lily and Hope had fun with their own tea party.
This is Mimi and me (I must not have heard the "smile at the camera" cue) opening one of the essential presents - diapers and baby wash. (Thanks, Megan!)

Just in case you felt like you didn't get a good enough shot of my belly - I really do have one (an ever-growing one). I'm measuring about 37 or 38 weeks (depending on who's measuring)...and Hope was born at 39 weeks, so I figure I'm almost as big as I got during my entire first pregnancy.

Hope's Independence

2009-02-23T17:31:00.000-08:00

I know, I know...I'm a slacker blogger. I'd like to blame it on pregnancy and my more recent pregnancy-related carpal tunnel syndrome...but really, I'm just a procrastinator at heart. I start on the computer for one thing, and might even think about blogging...but lately, I've been addicted to the abundance of creative blogs out there. I could browse around on them for hours.

Anyhow, lest you wonder if I'm still alive, I am. And I'm doing well. As usual, blessed with health and happiness and a home and what more could you ask for. I know those of you with kids are already so much in love with your own kids and amazed at how fast they learn and turn into their own little people. That's the way I feel right now with Hope. Every day it seems like something new - she's this little sponge just waiting to soak up whatever we offer her next. Last week I took her for a short walk around the block, and she took her baby doll in a baby doll stroller. Knowing we wouldn't be going at a fast pace, I grabbed my paperback and read and walked along behind her. Later that day, we went to Target, and as we walked in the store, she picked a book out of the dollar section at the front, and proceeded to read and walk around the store with me. Too cute!

I don't know if it's her body needing the vitamin D, but Hope loves to be outside. Andrew has been giving me a break and taking Hope for a walk to the lake whenever the weather is nice. They feed the ducks, pet the dogs being walked, and just wander around according to the whims of a two-year-old. She loves it. A couple weeks ago, she wanted to go for a walk and I said Daddy was sleeping but when he got up they could go. Instead I said she could play out back in our own yard until Daddy got up. I didn't realize we were mis-communicating until I realized I couldn't see her anymore, and went around the side of the house, and saw she had her baby in her stroller and had carried her over the rocks on the side of the house to the sidewalk that led to the front of the house. I went to grab my jacket and proceeded out front and she had already made it to the sidewalk in front of our next-door-neighbor's house. I kept following her, and she would turn around and tell me to "go away." I did catch up to her and explained I wasn't going away. We walked all the way to the Lake and did her normal lake routine. She's definitely got her own mind. Here's Daddy and Hope on their way to the Lake.

Flower Arranging

2009-01-04T14:15:00.000-08:00

We recently learned a little about flower arranging from a sweet sister at church. Hope really enjoyed making her own creations. It was surprising just how meticulous a two-year-old could be with the flowers, but she had a lot of fun.

Our finished arrangements...okay, so I might have helped a little.

My Christmas Trees

2008-12-11T21:30:00.000-08:00

No, that's not a typo, that's correct. This year we got two matching trees for Christmas. We were planning on getting our Christmas tree after our ultrasound, and the news we discovered was how Andrew decided we needed two "twin" trees. It was fun to decorate both trees - not too bad for "unbreakable" ornaments - a necessity with a toddler. So, our trees aren't identical, but from our ultrasound we don't know if the twins are fraternal or identical. We do know we can expect two little girls and that they are in separate sacs - which I believe increases the odds that they are fraternal, but if the splitting that occurs with identical twins happens early enough, then they could still be in separate sacs. Next year Andrew thinks we might need three trees, one for each child...and on and on as our family grows. This could get out of hand if we actually reach our original goal of eight kids.

Christmas Traditions

2008-12-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we made Gingerbread Houses. Unfortunately Hope fell asleep, but she was still impressed with the fruits of our labors. Maria and Adam made one house together, Andrew made a house, and I made a house too. Can you guess which is mine? Do you have a favorite?

This year I wanted to do start an advent calendar with Hope - but something she would enjoy, and not just because candy was involved. I actually didn't put any candies in these, but it could be an option next year, we'll see. Anyhow, I found this idea online to use a 24-cup mini-muffin tin. So, I cut my circles out, decorated with stickers, laminated, and put magnets on the back. Inside each cup I put an activity to do and a Christmas book to read. Some of our activities that we've done or will do include visiting a retirement home, going to the Creche Exhibit, going to the Sing-Along Messiah, watching the Survivor Finale with family, going to a tree lighting among others. Some are things that are routine and probably gonna get done anyway, like taking holiday pictures with her cousin or stamping and mailing Christmas cards (at least I aim to get those done)...and some days I admit we've just read the book because of tiredness. Anyway, I liked the idea of the circles being magnets for each day, and then they turn into an ornament that can go on this Christmas tree I made for the refrigerator. Hope loves magnets anyway, so she's enjoyed putting the magnets on. Also, for an extra step of fun, I wrapped each day's book - and she's LOVED the unwrapping part.

Happy 2nd Birthday Hope!

2008-12-11T20:32:00.000-08:00

We had three fun celebrations for Hope's birthday. We celebrated with the Compton's during Thanksgiving. Then we had the Ringlein's over for another celebration. Then, we celebrated with friends at the Zoo. We played Nursery Rhyme Pictionary at the Ringlein celebration, and it was pretty hilarious how few the guys' team knew. We had a great time!

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One present that Hope enjoyed was a baby doll. She has very much gotten into babies...which hopefully means she'll be a great big sister. However, cousin Joe also was pretty impressed with one of the dolls, Hope had to keep getting it back from him.Hope's present from Grandma Dori was a kitchen. Aunt Maria got her the culinary attire and she had fun playing pretend.Here's Hope and her playgroup friends, Lily and Karina, whose birthdays are just a few days before.

At the zoo, Hope enjoyed the sites with her buddy, Luke.

Dickens Fair

2008-12-11T20:25:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite traditions over the past few years has been attending the Dickens Fair. I love the music, dancing, attire, smells, sights, sounds...all of it! This year my sister and I enlisted my mom to make us costumes. It was so much fun (well, fun for me to wear a costume, maybe not fun for her to sew it). Although, I must say, that getting around in a hoop skirt wasn't the easiest thing. My mom was so sweet and made Hope a darling dress as well. (Yes, there is a not-so-flattering picture of myself here, but I wanted to show off how full my skirt was).

Halloween

2008-11-20T21:17:00.000-08:00

I figured if I don't post some Halloween pics soon I'll start getting harassed by my more faithful blogger friends. Anyhow, Halloween was pretty simple. We meant to do more, but Hope took a late nap and we missed Trick or Treating at the Hub. We did go to our ward's Trunk or Treat which was enjoyable. So...we actually still have the Yoda costume that Hope was last year (sorry Sarah)...and well, she hasn't grown a whole lot, and I almost thought of just doing that again for sheer laziness. But when I tried it on her, it didn't even last two minutes before she wanted to take it off. So, our back up plan was a fairy princess with a cute dress that was given to us and we haven't gotten much use out of it. When we added wings, it made a cute fairy princess...or fairy? Hope didn't actually want to wear the princess crown or carry the wand that we had...and we barely got a couple of shots with her actually wearing the wings. I think by the end of the evening she did get used to them. She was very interested in Kelvin and his siblings' trick-or-treating pumpkins and even before the candy was in it, he wasn't happy letting her play with it. He did make a handsome Captain Hook though. I did get Hope to say a slight version of "Trick or Treat" as we went to the cars, and when she realized she was getting candy, I think she got more interested in the whole activity. There's also a shot here of Hope enjoying her loot from the evening. (You can almost see the thought process going on..."He's got more pumpkins than he needs...let me slip over while he's not looking..." "Hey, little girl, did you think I wouldn't notice?")

Grand Witches' Council

2008-10-12T22:48:00.001-07:00

So, the other thing keeping me busy (when I'm not nauseous or taking a nap or catering to the whims of my toddler) has been a fabulous Halloween Party. My friend, Maren, got me reading one of the many fabulous blogs about moms much more motivated than myself, www.meckmom.com. Last year she posted all the details for a wonderful Halloween Party, but I didn't catch the posts until it was too late to do it for last year. So, I've been anticipating this party for a whole year and keeping my mouth shut for a whole year (not even telling Andrew). She calls it the Wanda Witch Ultimate Halloween Party. Basically, it's like an Amazing Race/Scavenger Hunt party with several teams made up of couples. One of the fun parts about the party is that it's thrown by Hilda and Zelda Witch...at least ours was. And RSVPs are sent to an anonymous email, so there's a lot of buzz and guessing who the witches are before the party and then the identities of your hosts are revealed at the end of the evening. I will say that many people had me pegged...but I was able to keep it from Andrew and he didn't even know until the end of the evening. He was surprised as he looked at me and said, "it's you?" It was amusing because leading up to the evening he would say things like, this seems like something you would do...but he was clueless because there was no evidence at my house. Big Thanks to my partner-in-crime, Denise. She was the perfect co-host and helped out immensely. Here's a pic below of Hilda and Zelda Witch about to give out the Golden Broomsticks. I forgot my own camera, but there's another picture below of a team getting one of their clues in a graveyard. It was a lot of fun scouting out locations (the creepier the better) and thinking up clues to get the teams there. Denise and I were both on teams keeping our mouths shut, and being amused at our teams trying to decipher our clues. I'm sure both our teams thought we were a little less than helpful, so I guess it should be no surprise since neither of our teams placed first (maybe they should have gotten bonus points for the handicap).

The party was a great success and it seemed like everyone had fun. The one big snag we had was setting up our clues. All was going smoothly until we got to our last clue to place. Denise had the great idea to put our "brew ingredient," eyeballs, in a ziploc bag of colored water, placed in another ziploc bag with the clue, tied to fishing line tied to a stick at the edge of a creek with the bags sumberged in the creek. Teams would then have to pull the line up and try and find their team color. An interesting idea, except that the gauge or our line was too small and when we tossed the first bag in the creek it broke and sunk, and our bag sprung a leak. We spent a good bit of time trying to avoid stepping in the gross, disgusting water and finding a branch long and strong enough to fish our clue out. Meanwhile, on one of the windiest days this fall, Hope is standing on the sidewalk on the bank next to her stroller that the parking break isn't on and a big gust of wind blew the stroller in the creek. Ick. We ended up with a reasonable compromise for the clues, but there was still more than one team that had a wet clue when they got to this point.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-12T22:40:00.000-07:00

Hope and I went to the Pumpkin Patch this last week with our playgroup. Hope had the most fun riding in the wagon for carrying your pumpkins and didn't want that part to end. We were a little sad that the farm near our house, Ardenwood, isn't doing their big pumpkin patch this year, but my friend, Mimi, still managed to find a cute one relatively close. It was cute and small...though probably doesn't compare to the one we went to last year that launched pumpkins from a cannon.

New Ringlein - Coming in April

2008-10-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it's time again that I've neglected a whole month of blog posting. But with good reason this time. We're expecting a new arrival due at the end of April. So, for those of you that have been through that first trimester before, you know how exhausting it is and how nauseous you can feel a lot of the time. I'm hoping it passes in the next couple of weeks. We're so excited that we were able to conceive naturally this time, not to mention it's a thrilling savings over IVF. Andrew and his mom have nicknamed our little fetus "Cheap, Cheap." Not sure if that's much better over the nickname Hope had for a while in utero, which was, "Goldfinger." My CNM says with second (and later) pregnancies that "you'll get bigger faster, and you'll be more tired" [because you already have someone taxing your engery]. And, so far, she's right. So, needless to say, I've been taking a lot of naps, putting on a lot of Blue's Clues in the background, and sending Andrew to make me toast in the middle of the night. He's super supportive and caters to most of my whims. Here's a pic of Hope in her "Big Sister" t-shirt I got to announce our positive test result to Andrew and my parents. Poor Hope has no idea how much her world is going to change.

Catching Up

2008-08-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

Well, you may have noticed the lack of posts lately. July was crazy busy for me as I decided to take on a little project of leading around 30 French Students for three weeks. It was fun, but exhausting. Hope was such a trooper and came along with me everywhere from Mission San Jose to the Golden Gate Bridge to a Giants game to LA. It was fun to get to know the students and teach them things about America and California. Here's a shot of Hope at Treasure Island...one of many stops we made with the students.What else has been going on...I started a toddler music group at church - Music Makers and we get together every week to do finger plays, sing songs, march around and have fun. It does take a bit of planning, but Hope and the other kids seem to enjoy themselves.

Hope had fun at the park during the ward 4th of July breakfast. She ended up chasing two boys around...perhaps it was because they had a ball...but we can still say she started her boy chasing early. As usual...we've been playing online - here's a couple pix of Hope trying out my headset.This was a fun summer activity - trying on Grandma's necklaces - all of them at once. Hope was so happy with herself.

Cousin Victor

2008-05-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

We stopped by Dean's house after church yesterday and Hope and Victor played for a short bit. They're starting to interact a little more together...although during church it was really more of a Hope showing Victor her cheerios and not letting him have any.

Here they are watching the dog, Chancho, in the yard.

Victor's amused

And here's Chanco - Hope has really been enjoying seeing dogs and animals recently. The other day she would hardly focus on her lunch because some people nearby had a couple of dogs.

Just a silly face

Sweet Victor, muy guapo

Hanging with Gil

2008-05-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

We stopped by and visited our friends, Becky and Gil, and enjoyed some time hanging out in their yard. Hope loved going up and down the stairs, walking in the grass, playing on the rocking chair - all the typical things a toddler loves. It was such a pleasant afternoon, Gil showed us his new Bose remote speaker for the yard, which Hope also enjoyed playing with. I enjoyed listening to the music of "Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" while Becky quietly hummed along, and Gil whistled along as he was buzzing along in the yard - sounds simple but it evoked such a quiet, positive feeling for me. My mom, too, likes to hum along as she goes about her business - I enjoy that too.Here's Hope running around in their yard.Gil even showed her the hose as entertainment...it lasted a few minutes.

Happy Retirement, Dori

2008-05-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago, Dori's co-workers threw her a wonderful Retirement Party (Thanks, Kristi and Linda and Snow School Staff). Andrew's mom, Dori, is retiring from teaching this year after more than twenty-five years. She's practically a local celebrity in our small town of Newark - we can hardly go anywhere without running into a former student, parent, or district personnel. Fortunately, she's not saying good-bye cold turkey and will still be doing a little bit of part-time teaching for Snow School. In Dori's honor, people made a donation for her favorite charity - she raised $824 for the Snow School Library - what a great charity! A couple of staffers put together an amazing slideshow of pictures and comments from current students, former students, and fellow teachers. Maybe 10% of the students' comments included Mrs. Ringlein's stern view of breaking pencils...from the mouths of kids:
"Tells us not to break pencils" -Taylor
"Doesn't let us throw pencils around" -Janisa
"We can't break pencils because they cost a lot of money" -Yvette
"Mrs. Ringlein doesn't let us break pencils" -Lesly
"Broken/short pencils we can trade in for a sharp one" -Nolan
"She keeps us safe from doing bad things like breaking scissors." -Christina

Had to throw in one about broken scissors instead of pencils...but I think we've got a new title for her, The Pencil Nazi. Andrew promptly came home and scattered a couple of broken pencils around.

Does this mean we can expect more cookies?The newlyweds, Adam and Maria - looking great, you wouldn't hardly know she was 21 weeks along!

Here's our little group - this day was at the end of a heat wave week...I think Hope looks a little ragged - but we still love her!

Redneck Car

2008-05-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

So, a while ago I pulled a little too close to the stub distributor in a parking garage, and left my mirror hanging sadly. Andrew was all stoked to help repair it and come to the manly rescue, until he assessed what he'd need. I bought said supplies, and Andrew's steam disappeared. (I'm sure if everything was on hand at the time, I'd have a fixed mirror). I drove with a dangling mirror for several months until the wind seemed particularly strong one day and the mirror dangled in newer ways. I had driven to my brother's house and asked for a quick-fix from him. Dean and my brother-in-law Jim assessed the situation and produced the man's solution to everything - duct tape. So...Andrew now believes that it's fixed, and I haven't been able to get him to truly fix the situation. I'm not sure which was worse, the dangling mirror or the duct-taped mirror.

Fun in the Park

2008-05-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day my family celebrated with a BBQ in the park. Good family + good food = good fun.

Hope had fun running over to daddy while he was sitting under a tree. I'm not sure who had more fun with Victor's little car, Hope or Aunt Renee.Julia had fun playing on the playground with Hope.
(By the way - I'm amazed with what they're doing with playgrounds these days - this was the first park I've seen that had recycled tire bits on the playground instead of sand or tan bark)

How to get ink out...

2008-05-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

Hope, like most kids, likes to draw. Hope, like most toddlers, doesn't always render precise control over drawing instruments. As such...when I did not take the ballpoint pen out of her hand promptly, it ended up on her darling dress, the first time she wore it. Thank goodness for the internet - the solution I found that I hadn't heard before was nail polish remover. The instructions that I followed were:

sponge the stain with water to first remove as much ink as possible
allow spot to dry
apply nail polish remover (it suggested to back side of stain, but as the dress was lined I couldn't do that)
blot dry (it said to use a clean terry cloth washcloth - I just used a paper towel)
apply laundry pretreatment

BEFORE
I circled the ink in red, the pen she used was actually black, and I took this picture after step one - sponging the stain with water, so it's a little faded from the initial stain.
AFTER

Okay, so there are wrinkles - but no evidence of the ink. Success!

Note: As I'm writing this Hope is eating cherries in a white shirt...okay, so I'm not the smartest mom (live and learn, right)...and I'm thinking I'll be looking up a new stain soon.

Happy Hollow Zoo

2008-05-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

Friday we took a little trip to Happy Hollow Zoo with some playgroup friends. Hope had fun seeing the animals, although often times it's like Where's Waldo - there's a leopard in here somewhere...She liked feeding the goats too, as long as they kept their distance, a little too much licking was overwhelming at times.

Here's a pic with Anusha, Roshni, Mimi, Lily, Angela and Hope
Hope also had fun riding the carousel. She did great for her first time!

Happy Wedding, Maria!

2008-05-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

Andrew's sister got married a couple of weeks ago - these are a few pix from the wedding. It was such a beautiful day, couldn't have been more perfect.

I'm thinking somebody must've said something funny just before this pic.

Fresh breath is an important matter

A lady always knows when to get her beauty rest

Our little Ringlein family

The day is done...

Hello World

2008-04-21T00:38:00.000-07:00

In the past couple of weeks, Hope has officially turned into a toddler. What I mean by this, is the defiance has come out...Andrew actually started calling Hope - Defiance for a couple days. She's gotten sassy - she thinks it's funny to be told no. She keeps getting sillier and sillier. Anyhow, here are some recent pics - the first few are from us at a wedding.

Hope is having fun dancing with the big kids.

Shala and Jazzlyn came to visit and Hope was so enamored with Jazzlyn. She kept checking on her and trading toys with her. Pretty amusing.

A note on life with the Ringleins - okay, so it's totally fun to talk about Hope, and she does take up a good percentage of our time. But there are other things. Andrew is still playing poker professionally. It's got its ups and downs, but ultimately, it's such a blessing for him to work from home and have extra time to spend with our family. Angela is currently organizing a student exchange for a group from France coming to the Bay Area for a few weeks this summer. It's pretty fun. She also got released from her calling in Primary after 4 1/2 years and then promptly got called into the Relief Society as a secretary. It's been a lot of fun so far, and more fun to look forward to. Wishing you all lots of love!

Happy Easter

2008-03-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

Our Easter festivities this year were pretty fun. Our playgroup friends got together for some egg dying...yes, we might have preoccupied the little ones with some Baby Einstein...just for a little bit.

Saturday morning, Mimi and Lily hosted a fun Egg Hunt and delicious brunch. Hope didn't quite get the hang of "hunting" for eggs, and found the bus more captivating the majority of the time.Really, the egg is supposed to go in the basket...Hope had fun sitting in this perfectly sized chair with her buddy, Lily.Here's the group shot with our friends.Everyone get your ears ready!Uncle Adam had to help with finding eggsOh my gosh, who put this foreign object in Hope's hands?

Spring Photo Shoot

2008-03-19T01:41:00.001-07:00

I've been loving seeing the flowers in bloom, and finally got Hope out to a little photo shoot. We had fun in the sun...but unfortunately, forgot the sunscreen, and got a little color in the cheeks.

Play Time

2008-03-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

As usual, I'm behind on blogging. A couple weeks ago we went to visit my brother Dean and Hope's cousin, Victor. We had fun playing at the playground, and trying out Victor's hockey stick, although we decided to skip trying on his skates. He's a month younger than Hope and already trying out skates - crazy. Anyhow, here's some fun pix.

Here's a couple of Hope playing around with a hat - pretty fun.

Baby Gap

2008-02-05T10:08:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted and that's probably because we've just been mainly hanging out and going with the flow. If I posted what's new, it'd probably be a pair of boots that my character in World of Warcraft just got...but that would bore most of you.

So, our playgroup went to have Valentine's pictures taken, and if you ever want a challenge, try to keep four toddlers happy and looking at the camera. Not an easy task, and apparently one we didn't achieve. But they printed this picture out in a large frame and someone came by and said it looked like Baby Gap. We've got representation from various ethnicities in our playgroup, so it does just about look like an ad. Here are our cuties.

Chinatown with the Southwicks

2008-01-03T01:59:00.000-08:00

Our friends Jan and Dan and their 7-week-old, Lily, came down from Sacramento and we took them to Chinatown in SF for their first time. We visited typical Chinatown shops, like a family-owned kite store, a Bonsai store, and even a fortune cookie "factory" seeimingly manned by one old Chinawoman at a fortune cookie "assembly" line (the "tour" was free, but a picture was 50 cents - pretty amusing).
On our way back to BART, we stopped by the West-St. Francis. They happened to have San Francisco's largest sugar house. I wanna make a gingerbread castle like this! (P.S. if you have any tricks to get Hope to look at the camera, especially when I'm not taking the picture - send them my way).

Happy New Year

2007-12-31T17:39:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas

2007-12-27T00:57:00.000-08:00

This year we celebrated Christmas Eve with the Ringleins. I've been asked how Hope enjoyed Christmas...I don't know how much she got the "present" thing, but she definitely enjoyed seeing people (even if she did have a little cold - she was a trooper). Here's a pic with the Ringleins.
On Christmas morning, we opened stocking and some presents.On Christmas Day we stopped by and visited Grandma Linda.

We visited Uncle Dean and cousin, Victor (Gloria too, but she's not in this picture).
Cousin Julia helped Hope open some presents.Even with her runny nose, Hope still enjoyed seeing her aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma.
We had a good Christmas, and are happy to count ourselves blessed.

Hope loves apples

2007-12-27T00:47:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago when I came in from the grocery store, I plopped Hope in her seat that is attached to the table, thinking she could amuse herself for a few minutes while I unloaded groceries. When I turned back around she had grabbed an apple from the middle of the table and just started biting into it. I knew she liked apples, but we usually cut them up for her and remove the peel. Here's a pic from the other day, you can see just how much she was going to town on this apple. We were in Katie's car and looking for something to amuse her, she thought she might enjoy holding an apple. As I guessed, she took it as an invitation to eat it. I will say that she had a method of "peeling" the apple herself - where she would take a bite and spit the peel out. Katie said that possums employ this same method. I will say that it leaves a lot of debris in the car seat.

Happy Christmas

2007-12-27T00:31:00.001-08:00

Our family has really enjoyed going to the Dickens Fair the past few years. You step into a Victorian London Christmas setting with all the scents and scenes of that time. I love the costumes and the singing and have fun every time. Here's a picture (right to left) of Katie, Julia, Myself, and Hope trying on hats at the Holzer & Combe Haberdashery. I had no idea what a Haberdashery was before, but it was fun to check out.Here are London's Chimney Sweeps - I think I actually saw them do part of the number from Mary Poppins - How fun!Here are some of the sailoring crew at the London docks. I enjoyed the variety of things they came up with for "What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor?"

O Little Town Of Bethlehem

2007-12-10T00:51:00.000-08:00

I collect nativities, and I love each and every one of them. I love the Christmas Season because I get to bring them out. Just wanted to share my collection so far. Hope also has a Little People Nativity (not pictured).

A gift from Becky Hollingsworth

Willow Tree

Thomas Kincade

HeartSong

Department 56

Happy Birthday, Hope

2007-12-02T23:11:00.001-08:00

Hope turned one on Friday. We had a party combined with a couple of playgroup friends with a fun, ladybug theme. Hope enjoyed herself and loved playing with all the kids.We did a Korean tradition where you put a tray of symbolic items in front of the child to see which item they will pick to predict their future (i.e. a jar of rice meant she'll never go hungry, a ribbon represented a long life, a pen means she'll be a scholar). We added a couple of items more geared to our family - a piano for musical , a chess piece for a grand master, and a poker chip representing a poker player. Andrew was pleased that she picked the chess piece (though she almost reached for the basketball - what would we do with a basketball player in our family?).I think Hope enjoyed her first cake and joy of getting her face messy. Although, in retrospect, red icing makes a messy face look a little gory.This shot just looked like pure mischief and I had to throw it in. Hope has mastered climbing up the stairs - though not climbing down. We think she's real close to taking her first steps - she's doing real well at pulling herself up on things and using furniture to walk along and even turning around and grabbing another support method...just not venturing those solo steps.

Baby Not Included

2007-11-07T14:44:00.000-08:00

We're trying out starting a gift basket business, hopefully it'll be a fun home business. Here's the content of a Baby Einstein - Water, Water Everywhere Basket. Andrew loved this picture with the caption - Baby not included. He's such a proud papa.

New Play Fort

2007-11-01T18:11:00.001-07:00

Our most entertaining five bucks spent so far. Our neighbors had a garage sale and we couldn't resist this little fort. We thought she might not be old enough to truly be entertained by it, but Hope was immediately enthralled by the fort. First she was happy just standing next to it, then she spent a good amount of time just standing up on the top part looking out, and then today, she was able to try going down the slide by herself. Most attempts went pretty well, but there were a couple of wobbly ones. It didn't slow her down though, she kept wanting to go down again and again and again.Hope keeps getting more and more expressive and silly. Here's one of her silly faces.

I'm queen of the world...or at least my parents' world.

Happy Halloween

2007-11-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

It all started with a light saber, and now I have the distinct feeling that Star Wars will be a Halloween theme for several years to come. Here's Princess Leia, her Jedi, and Yoda. I don't think Hope was too taken with the headpiece, but she adjusted quickly.

Here's Hope at our Dancekids class, eating a beanbag. Yummy!

The Ringleins carved pumpkins together on Maria's condo rooftop. What a great view of the bay! From left to right the pumpkins belong to Maria, Andrew, Hope, Adam, Jessica, Joe, Angela, and Jim (he was going to carve his later).

Hope has Chicken Pox...

2007-10-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

My little girl has chicken pox. Yes, they do vaccinate for it nowadays, but not until 12 months. She's doing well and is in surprisingly good spirits for having itchy bumps all over. Here's a pic just after an oatmeal bath and before the calomine lotion. She's gotten some more spots and they've gotten a little worse-looking as they run their course, but overall, I think it's a pretty mild case.

Sacramento Trip

2007-10-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Sacramento. We saw our friends, Jan and Dan, who are expecting in November (yea!). They took us to a Pumpkin Patch where Hope went our her first hayride and climbed a haystack with her daddy. This pumpkin patch also fired pumpkins out of a cannon, which was a highlight. We also went through the corn maze, where Andrew and Dan tried to ditch the pregnant wife and the wife carrying the baby. Fortunately, Dan is more sympathetic to his wife and they turned back and helped us not get too lost. After the pumpkin patch, we went to a pizza place and sang karaoke, at least the girls did.

On Sunday, we went to church with Angela's friend, Shala, and her family to see Shala's baby, Jazzlyn blessed. It was a special occassion and we were glad we could be there.

International Night - Primary Activity

2007-10-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, we went to a Primary Activity Day with an international theme. Everyone was encouraged to dress up and the children got to learn a little more about some different cultures. Here's a few pics with us dressed up.
This last picture is Hope eating a Ukranian cookie (while sitting in the sling); lately, she's been liking holding things in her mouth without hands.

Fall

2007-10-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

I know, I skipped a whole month and didn't put any posts up. I'm sure everyone's been wondering, what have we been up to? Well, you can put your minds at ease, because it's not a whole lot. Hope and Angela have been taking some community classes - Kids in Tune and DanceKids, basically some play around classes where she gets to interact with other little ones and sing songs. We've also been hanging out with our playgroup, we play at each other's houses or go out to lunch. Hope loves other kids, so she really enjoys having interaction with people younger than her mommy, daddy, and grandma that she sees every day. We met up with Hope's cousin Victor for lunch last week and here she is showing some love.
A few weeks ago, Hope and Angela went and had portraits taken. Here's one of our favorite shots.
Earlier this week, Angela and Hope took the first of probably a handful of trips to the Pumpkin Patch near their house. It'll be fun to take Daddy back.

Twain Harte

2007-08-19T17:12:00.000-07:00

A Ringlein summer tradition from Dori's childhood, now up to Hope's childhood, is visiting the town of Twain Harte, named after authors Mark Twain and Bret Harte. It's in the Sierra Nevada mountains a couple hours west of Yosemite near Sonora. We participated in favorite activities like miniature golfing, visiting the Twain Harte Lake, eating ice cream, playing games and enjoying each others company. It was a fun family trip and we were able to spend time with Dori, Jessica, Jim, Sara, Joe, Maria, Adam, and even Katie came and stayed a night. We also paid a visit to Mercer Caverns - a neat limestone cave that charged a pinch of golddust for its first tours.

Maria makes sure to count Andrew's swings - he was on a lucky streak this night.

Hope is happy hanging out on the beach.

Our little family - we had fun celebrating Jim and Angela's birthdays while we were in Twain Harte.

Here we are on our train ride out of Jamestown. This train has been used in many older movies and old western television shows.

East Coast Visit

2007-07-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

Our East Coast Trip started in Washington D.C. We got the opportunity to have a short visit with Mark and Sandy on our first night in. They have a nice condo in Maryland that backs up to a wooded area - you could see plenty of fireflies buzzing around - a sight we don't get in Northern California. The next night we paid an evening visit to the National Mall where we saw the Capitol at night, and Washington Monument from a distance. Andrew ended up getting sick, so I saw some sights with Maria and Adam on Saturday, including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and Library of Congress . At the beautiful wedding of Valerie and Martin, it was fun to catch up with the Ringlein aunts and uncles that we don't see very often. Next we went to South Central Pennsylvania and stayed a couple of nights while Andrew recouped more from being sick. We visited with Jim and Sue and their kids Alex, Grace, and Veronica. Jim predicted that Hope would officially crawl on their enchanted carpet (three children had already learned to crawl in that very spot)...and some might venture to say she did just that. It was fun to learn a little more about the Amish on a buggy ride through the farmland. The last couple days of our trip we spent in North Carolina with the Bosleys. We mostly just relaxed, visited, and played games. It was a low-key way to end the trip. Hope really enjoyed the kids she saw on the trip, especially the entertaining antics of Will Bosley - she would giggle and giggle as he jumped up and down for her.Here are Maria and Adam in front of a reflecting pool with the Washington Monument in the background.

Andrew, Bob and Marcia Mayer, Joe and Janice Clements, Mark Ringlein, Angela and Hope, and Maria, the day after the wedding (during a brief window of Andrew feeling okay)

Hope and I tried out the swings for the first time (her first time, not mine)

Hope, Angela, Andrew, Grace, and Veronica in front of our Amish Buggy.

We made a brief stop to see the Washington D.C. temple on our way to North Carolina.

Hope enjoyed "crawling" around and playing with Ivy Bosley.

You can see more pictures from our trip at http://ringleins.shutterfly.com

A Midsummer Night's Dream

2007-06-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

For Andrew's birthday, we had A Midsummer Night's Dream party. There was mixing as guests tried to guess the Fairytale name on their back. We played Imaginiff with Andrew, where guests decided what fit Andrew best (i.e. if Andrew were a dog would he be a 1)Dachsund 2)Golden Retriever 3)St. Bernard 4)Rottweiler) and if Andrew got it wrong, then he had to put a marshmallow in his mouth and keep it there. He was a good sport, holding a total of six marshmallows in his mouth at the end. Our finale of the evening was scenes from Shakespeare where guests could pick a scene from a Shakespeare play to improv and ham it up. Probably the most amusing scene was Andrew as Julius Caesar being murdered by a light-saber-holding Brutus.

Mr. Mom and more...

2007-06-04T11:23:00.001-07:00

So I had a dentist appointment and asked Andrew to babysit. The picture below is what I came home to - Andrew's idea of babysitting.
We've also been getting swimming time in at the swim club. Hope has really been enjoying the water!
Hope just started eating solid food last week. So far it's rice cereal, but we'll be trying new things soon. I think the wide-eyed look is more from the camera flash than the experience of eating.
Happy Memorial Day - we joined some friends for a barbecue. Here's a sunny family picture.

May's Discoveries and More

2007-05-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...we need to update this more frequently so we don't have to do one big long post.
This month, Hope went to her first concert - Vienna Teng, and then the next week went to another concert, Celtic Woman, with Grandma Linda (and mom and aunt) for Mother's Day. There's a picture at the latter concert - it was a little warm, so it's nice that as a baby, Hope can cool off.

We visited the Filoli estate for the Spring Floral Show which featured beautiful arrangements throughout the lovely home. Here's a picture of Katie and Hope on a stoop.

We visited our friend Becky, where we made backyard discoveries and enjoyed checking out the flowers and trees and here's a picture checking out the fountain.

We went to a Volunteer Tea at Grandma Dori's school, where Grandma Dori got to show off her newest granddaughter to co-workers and friends.

We had a Primary Campout in the Park one afternoon where the primary kids did some cleaning up, games, sang camp songs and even made s'mores.

And the final picture is our most fun discovery this month - feet. This month Hope has really enjoyed finding her feet, playing with them, bringing them to her mouth, trying to pick things up with them - she loves her feet!

Happy Easter

2007-04-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

We had a delightful Easter dinner at Andrew's sister, Jessica's, home. Hope is a little young to enjoy the fruits of Easter, but she was still blessed with plenty of love from friends and family.

New Territory

2007-03-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

Swimming - Last Thursday, Hope tested the waters for the first time. We went to the Silliman Center with Grandma and Aunt Jessica. Although at four months, Hope isn't quite at the "playing" in the water stage, she didn't cry at all, and seemed to enjoy the experience. At least Grandma, Auntie, and Mom did.

San Juan Bautista - Saturday, Angela and her friend, Katie, took Hope for a day outing to San Juan Bautista. It was the first time for everyone and it was interesting to learn about all the history of the small town. Settled by the Spanish who built the mission the town is famous for, the town was also home to Native Americans and even surviving members of the Donner Party.