'Twas a Happy Christmas Morning!

Day breaks. Feet skip and trip down the corridor. Excitement bubbles from five year old lips. "It's Christmas morning!" Stockings dumped out. Bubbles blown and floating. Soap is spilling. Nails polished. Saliva dissolving chocolate melting in mouth not on hands. Purses hung on shoulders shrugged. Squeals and laughter and gasps of air. "We're hungry!" Coffee brewed. Pancakes flipped into maple syrup dipped. Now paper tears and ornaments fall. Boxes thrown and ribbons mauled. Happy, happy, happy Christmas morn. Music. Jumping. Showing and shoving. Marking. Dumping. Sharing and hugging. Happy, happy, happy Christmas morn. Crying now. "She's pushing me!" To your room, NOW. Assembling large toys. Next year we'll do this ahead of time. Live and learn. "Can I come out now?" Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere. Time for lunch. Christmas Eve feast leftovers! Ah... what a happy Christmas morning.

Home in the Motherland

Yes. We are all home again. Sure it's been ages since a post... what can I say? November flew bye, which means it was crammed full of great stuff that we Mitchells busied ourselves with. Highlights: a birthday celebration; a best friend's engagement; lots of airplanes and trains and taxis and buses and boats, even an elephant; a trip to China; a trip to Texas; a trip to Malaysia; a trip to Thailand; lots of family face time; lots of turkey; lots of curry; girls' first bonafide sleep over (gasp!); a Christmas tree in our living room...

Today Mateja informed me that the Motherland is where Mothers can go. They only have to pay one dollar to get into the Motherland. And there are no other people in the Motherland other than mothers, of course. And the only things that are really in the Motherland are massages (do they have Thai massages?) and quiet time and peace. Oh and once you pay that one dollar to gain entrance, everything else is free.

It was a Happy Columbus Day!

We had such a happy Columbus Day!

Nathan ended up having the day OFF of work and so... we had a WHOLE list of activities planned. And I mean a WHOLE list. Our list had lots of house projects (including cleaning the carpets) and family projects (sorting through the girls' closets to yank the summer clothes) as well as outside of the home projects (shopping for winter clothes for the girls!) and our favorite type of activity: the FUN one! Every year we go to a pumpkin patch. This year was a fun pumpkin patch outing as the girls were able to ride a carousel and a train and go through two different corn mazes! Yahoo! And then, of course, as tradition has it the girls get one small pumpkin each and Mommy & Daddy get to share a pumpkin - it's the sacred pumpkin that will be the starter for all the pies and muffins Mommy will begin making this season. (not sure why I started writing in third person...)

Surprisingly we accomplished almost everything on our Columbus Day list (the carpets must wait for another week). Not sure when I'll get started on the pumpkin pies, but the change in weather has got me in the mood for some baking! I made some delicious granola with raisins and cherries and apricots today. (thank you Sisi!) I feel like baking bread or cookies or... pies very soon!

Enjoy these Mitchell family pics from our Columbus Day! (pumpkin pie photos will show up soon!)

What's Jail Mateja?

Today Mateja educated Ari on what happens to someone when they break the law.

Mateja to Ari: When people don't obey the law, the get put in jail. You don't want to go to jail do you?

Ari: No, Mateja...

Mateja: OK. Then you need to put your seat belt on because that is disobeying the law.

Ari: What's jail, Mateja?

Mateja: Jail is a stinky place. And the pillows are hard like rocks. And they give you blankets that are hard like rocks too. You don't EVER want to go to jail.

Me: Have you ever been to a jail?

Mateja: No and I don't ever want to go.

Me: How do you know they are stinky if you have never been to one before?

Mateja: I don't know. I just know they are.

Rich Perspective

Nathan and I talk somewhat frequently about the move we made earlier this year from our spacious four bedroom house to this tiny apartment in Santa Clara. There were several reasons why we chose to move here. Sometimes we remember our former "glory" in that big house and miss those days of space and "luxury" in San Jose. We know we made the right decision. We know we are in a temporary place. We know that eventually we will live in that big, beautiful home God has for us, somewhere and it will be BLISS! And while we know we made the correct/right decision in moving here, sometimes it feels like we fell backwards off of a cliff and have little to show for all the work we've put into our life... Recently Mateja sat on the couch of our downsized, tiny apartment living room and said, "I'm so glad we're rich!"


There's some perspective for you.

Summer Times

June has come and gone. July too, here and gone! And now August is well beyond half over... we've been busy little lovers over here. Most people we know have been in that same summer craze. Here is an update on the beginning of our wonderful summer:
I took the girls up to my Dad's the last week of May. The girls met Dad's new puppy: Sonny. Arielle was absolutely filthy the entire week. She and the dog bonded in a special way. Dad was working on the property that week so he was around most of the time here and there and the girls and I were able to enjoy him from a bit of a distance. Mateja took every opportunity she could to hop on the ATV with him. The girls were up and down the mountain with Papa. I was able to spend hours upon hours in the garden. We took the girls to the river and just simply enjoyed our time in the mountains. It was glorious.

After that week of peace and quiet we headed back to the Bay. Ended up getting here on June 1st - the date of Nathan and my sixth anniversary. We made a date for that following Saturday at a fabulous Greek restaurant nearby: Dio Deka. It took us back to our honeymoon in Greece (albeit quite a bit fancier than any fare we consumed while on the Greek Isles). Incredible food, ambiance, service. Check it out if you're in or around the South Bay.

Friends & family members graduated in June (including Mateja from pre-school! ha ha ha!), meetings, meetings and more meetings, the girls started their first-ever set of swimming lessons, we helped some friends move, my grandmother was moved from her home into a care-givers home, I took a whole day and drove out to visit her.

Father's Day came and with it a batch of famous Mitchell Pancakes specially whipped up by the girls just for their daddy. Mateja's pre-K "graduation" (complete with cap and gown! ha ha!!), lunch with a friend I hadn't seen in 8 years, my grade school/high-school reunion, as well as a road trip that Nathan took with the girls to So. Cal for a weekend to visit family were all packed into the month of June.

We acquired a gas grill, I started grilling for the first time ever and then - the topper for June - my younger brother turned 30 (I didn't get to celebrate with him, but it impacted me big time!)

and then we jumped into July and drove to Meadow Vista to visit my only living Grandfather and my Grandmother (his wife) who is my girls' Noni (she's Italian & wants to be called Noni by the Great-Grand kids). That was a great trip. I'll have to post photos and details of that some time soon (we learned on that trip that Arielle is allergic to cats! Yet another thing she shares with her Dad).

Whew!

the People of California

We were driving in the car up to San Francisco. Nathan had some work to do in the city so we girls decided to tag along. The girls requested their favorite CD, one of Michael Jackson's, of course and Nathan asked me to read him a newspaper article.

Ari suddenly said: "I pray for the people of California."

(I'm not sure I've ever heard her say the word "California" before, it was fabulous.)

That sortta caught our attention. So we too prayed for the people of California! We bless you Californians!!! Prosper & be in good health. Make wise decisions and live life to the fullest! Do it!!!

Player vs. Rock Star

We three girls were in the checkout line at Target. Ari had been wailing/screaming/throwing-a-fit... you know, doing that thing that makes everyone else in the store say, "somebody needs to shut that kid up." OK. Maybe everyone else in the store doesn't say that, but... YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!! And although I do hate to admit it, I was a bit stressed. Mateja was lingering at the magazine racks. I was ready to get out of there. So once I paid for everything and shoved it into my cart I jammed for the automatic doors and hollered behind me, "Mateja, let's go!"
I was already around the corner before I looked back to see if she was following me out the door. She was. And in her hands were stacks of different magazines. They all had Michael Jackson on the cover. "Mateja!" (that was stressed-out-Mommy) "Mom, I want to read all of these." "Babe, I am not buying those." "Mom, these are all about Michael Jackson. And I want to read them! He's the best! Anyway, you don't have to buy these. We can take them." "No, Tej. You have to buy them. This isn't the library. It's... just go put them back, please! And LET'S GO." Reluctantly she returned all of the magazines to their racks. I was able to decompress in the meantime. She returned talking about how awesome Michael Jackson is and how much she loves him. I couldn't remove the smirk from my face. It was just too funny.

I pressed about MJ. "Sooo, why did you want those magazines?" "Mom he is the BEST man in the whole world!" "What?!?" I laughed. "Well, what about your Dad?!?" "Well, Mom. I mean that Michael Jackson is the best rock star in the whole world. Daddy is the best Dad and he is the best player too." "Who is the best?" "Daddy is the best Daddy and player." "He's a player?" "Yeah!" "What do you mean, player?" "You know, he is the best player at tickling and playing games and chasing me and Ari. But Michael Jackson is the best rock star ever!"

There's a good chance she'll change her mind. Ya think?

Ari speaks Mandarin with Auntie

MONDAY:

My sister, the girls’ Auntie, currently lives in China. Before she moved to China for work, she lived with us for nine months so she & the girls were pretty close. Because of the wonders of modern technology, we all still get to “see” each other & chat via Skype. This morning we girls spent some time talking with Auntie before she went to bed. It was pretty late her time. She has been working on her Chinese (Mandarin) quite a bit lately and decided to go through a little lesson with the girls by having them repeat some of the words and phrases. I will TRY to duplicate them here, but I neither speak nor write the native languages spoken in China. So forgive me if I’m a bit off, but here goes:

Auntie: “OK Ari. Repeat after me. I’m going to say something and then you say the same thing. OK?”
Ari: “OK Auntie.”
Auntie: “OK. Here we go. ‘zai jian’ now you say, ‘zai jian’”
Ari: “sigh jee”
Auntie: “Good job. Now say: ‘shui, shui’”
Ari: “shoosh”
Auntie: “Good. ‘wo ai nee’”
Ari: “orwannee”
Auntie: That’s “I love you” in Chinese.
Ari: “I love you in Chinese.”
Auntie: (burst out laughing)

Awe. Love making Auntie laugh.

Cute Moment

Picked the girls up from the childcare provided on Wednesday mornings at the church during which time I'm in the Women's Meeting. The care giver told me this story:

During craft time during which the children were making dolls out of yarn, Mateja spoke up, "Teacher, did you know that mom sings at home with her guitar too? And she has the most beautiful voice in the whole world." (I wonder where she heard that. Just like her Daddy!)

Her teacher thought that was the cutest thing. Very noteworthy!

the Government

At breakfast the other morning, Mateja and I were having some great conversations about all sorts of things. It's part of our usual routine. She's gets some great notions in her head and wants to talk it out and ask a bunch of questions, not all of which are related.

This particular morning we were talking about orphans. Well, she was asking lots of questions about children and their parents and what happens to children when their parents die? (what in the world?) So then I tried to answer further questions regarding orphans and orphanages and foster care. This was all in response to the questions that were raised as we dug deeper into the subject and then I tried to explain the government's role in all of it.

She said, "Who's the government? Is that the bad guy?"

Who Is the Teacher?

This post is simply to state that, after much research, we have decided to home school. Mateja is supposed to start kindergarten in the fall. So, she'll just have me as her teacher (still). See I finally came to REALLY realize that I AM a teacher already. In fact, I am HER teacher. This morning whilst driving in the car she was firing questions at me like she usually does. Here is a sample of the things she was asking me. I had to jot them down while we were stopped at a red light.

"How many eyes do squids have?"

"Why can you turn right at a red light but not left?"

"What is an exhibit?"

"What does great gas mileage mean?"

"What is a gang?"

"What is butter? I mean, I know it's something you eat, but what else is it?"

Before she started preschool, I would get some credit for the things she learned (like her colors or numbers or letters - cuz I did teach her those things). Everything else she would attribute to either the knowledge of her father or her grandmother (Grammy Di). Then she started preschool (two days a week of preschool) and her teachers then received all of the credit for absolutely anything she had ever learned or was currently learning (even things like how to snap her fingers!). Now that she'll be home schooled, I wonder if I will get any credit for the breadth of her knowledge... she informed me once, not too long ago, that the only reason I actually knew anything was because someone had told me or maybe I had read it in a book. Maybe she's the teacher!

"Kinda Like an Animal"

The girls were down in the courtyard playing with two neighbor girls, sisters who are five and nine years old. I was sitting at the patio table on our deck keeping an eye on them whilst doing some work on the computer. The four of them were at the edge of the courtyard. My view of them was somewhat blocked by the overhanging tree branches. I could see them through the branches and hear them playing, I just couldn't see exactly what it was that they were doing. I found out soon enough. And this is exactly the reason I don't usually let them go to the courtyard without me.

The five year old neighbor girl (I'll call her Missy) had lost one of her shoes in an ivy patch. The girls wanted to help her look for it, of course, so they proceeded to rip up that ivy to find the shoe. Then two other neighbor kids (ages five and three) joined in the rampage. And they tore that patch up! There were leaves all over the grass and sidewalks. Branches and roots were strewn everywhere by the time I happened upon the scene. They still hadn't found that shoe. I was unhappy and disappointed with the children, but especially my eldest as I have higher expectations for her. She tends to be one of the leaders in the neighborhood crew despite the fact that she's not the oldest among them. I was equally embarrassed. Again, part of the reason I don't usually let them in the courtyard without my presence known among the rest of the children. Anyway... I told all the children we needed to clean it up immediately. I gave Mateja a bit of a lecture (I know, lectures suck) whilst I knelt beside her to pick up the wreckage. You know, standard lecture stuff: I was disappointed and this is not how we treat other people's property and how it's devastating for the earth AND how this is something a wild animal would do, not children.

Mateja responded, "Well, Arielle is kinda like an animal." That stopped me in my tracks and I literally had to hold myself back from bursting into laughter. The look on my face triggered the rest of her thought process, "Well, her name means Lioness of God, so that's kinda like an animal, Mom." I replied, "You're right." And then the laughter erupted. I just couldn't help myself. LOVE my kids!

Missy's older sister got a broom from her apartment, the children worked as a team to clean up their mess and I found Missy's shoe.

Summer Produce

There's just no denying that this family loves produce. We are produce lovers. And when the weather changes and the harvest changes... heaven on earth here in the lovers home. We currently have in our home right now: Cherries, raspberries, bananas, apricots, nectarines, strawberries, grapes, mangoes, tomatoes, avocados, red & orange bell peppers, red kale, celery, carrots, cilantro, zucchini, red leaf lettuce, arugula, English cucumber, spinach, Brussels sprouts...

I'm a nut! That's all the fresh stuff I've picked up at Farmer's Market and organic produce stands... it's out of control, but I can't help it. And we're eating it as fast as it's coming in (I mean, we kinda have to if I don't want it to start wilting and be inedible). I refrained from buying blue berries yesterday and more strawberries this morning (although by the end of today, the current ones we have will likely be gone). We love it though. Can I just have my OWN garden already? OK. I can be patient. I know I can.

Mateja loves nectarines and pineapples. I love apricots (it's basically the cleanest, non-messiest fruit you can eat). Ari's favorites are strawberries and raspberries, well, any berry for that matter. Nathan loves mangoes. And then when you stick a variety of them in a blender w/ some kefir? Again: heaven on earth.

And then there's veggies... kale has to be my #2 go-to veggie prety much all the time (asparagus is #1). We also love baby broccoli quite a bit over here. And if you can find some delicious brussels, oh heck, it's over. We're having the brussels as a side with dinner tonight. Also having the spinach and then I'm going to make a basic salad w/ some red leaf, cucumber, tomatoe and arugula... but that's dinner. Lunch is in the works. We just LOVE fresh produce. LOVE IT!!

Happy Birthday Ari!

What a weekend! My baby is 3 now! I think she has finally decided that she is no longer a baby. I think. This year I just couldn't get it together to throw her a party. Not at all. So we took the kids to a festival in San Francisco over the weekend with some friends of ours (Nathan and Lindsey F.) and their little ones. Upon arriving at the festival, Ari shouted, "It's my party!" I couldn't have planned it better if I tried! And I'm so glad I didn't try. The kids had an absolute blast.

So, I think I've decided from hence forth that I'll plan birthday parties in sync with childrens' festivals. Although Mateja did say to me at the end of the day, "That was a fun birthday party, Mom, but we didn't actually know any of the kids that were there." Ah, well. That's OK, isn't it?

Mother's Day

That time of year is here! Day to honor mothers. So... it was my day, well, sort of. But that's kind of the way it goes when your kids are young, right? Anyway!!!

I had a great morning. French Toast & (decaf) French Roast was waiting for me. I was served by a beautiful fairy princess who then joined me at the table to eat some french toast with her maple syrup.
Somehow (ha) organic maple syrup ended up getting tracked all over the dining room and kitchen floor. Guess who got to clean that up? It was my day, after all. Not sure Nathan even noticed, otherwise he probably would have cleaned it up for me. Well, a mom can hope.

After eating and showering and going through a few different outfits to figure out which one made me feel the least fat, we headed to church. My friend Charlene said I looked gorgeous. Aw. Thanks friend! My girls scored a gift bag each full of makeup and costume jewelry from a lovely lady there who has fallen in love with them.


After church Nathan insisted we go out for lunch. I chose a big, fat, juicy burger since it keeps alluding me. Ari walked right in that Red Robin like she owned the place, found an empty booth, and sat herself down. The girls covered their faces with pink and orange powder blush while we waited for our lunch. Altogether memorable which is exactly what "my" day should have been like, no?

Once we got home, naps were on the schedule for all and after we woke the rest of the daylight was spent outdoors. The girls continued to smear their new makeup all over themselves (especially Ari, imagine it!) and then they shared it with the neighbor girls. All in all a very relaxing day. Yay for Moms!

Farmers Market

This morning I took the girls to a local Farmer's Market. It's something I hope to make a family tradition. I wish we went to Farmers Markets three times a week, but I'll settle for once a week for now. I love them. I talked it up so much that by the time we parked the car (I know, we should have biked) and headed down the closed off street the girls were squealing with excitement. It was perfect. The weather was agreeable, the street was not over crowded, it was well organized and the live music wasn't obnoxious. My only grimace of the day occurred when I looked at the posted prices of the face painting booth. That was after I'd agreed to let Mateja get a "kitty" caked on her right cheek. Boo. Oh well. She was pleased with the outcome and I was pleased with the positive experiences my girls had at the market. It wasn't their first, by any means, but it was certainly the first memorable experience for each of them as they were very involved in the choosing of the foods we purchased and the variety of samples they consumed. Yay for FM and summer time produce. Aaahhh ~ loving life!

Mouth Wide Open

Today our girls had their first dental appointments! We turned it into a family affair (or course!) and each had an appointment. I had the first examination and cleaning so the girls could watch and ask questions and begin trusting the doctor. When Mateja’s turn came round, she suddenly shrank into the pool of insecurity and fear. Wailing was heard throughout the exam rooms. Daddy pulled her up onto his lap to console: "We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. We can wait until you are six." She wouldn’t have it. Wait another YEAR?!? Uh-uh. She sucked it up, dried the tears and put on her brave face. She was darling reclining in that big chair, muscles tensed, mouth wide open.

Ari was next and followed sister in her resistance to climbing into the chair. After the doctor reminded her of the treasure chest full of toys that awaited a patient with polished teeth, she reluctantly climbed onto Daddy’s lap and opened her mouth “wide, like an alligator.”
We were perfectly proud of our two angels, just as we should be. After leaving with toys and toothbrushes and floss and toothpaste, Daddy took his treasures to a “restaurant” as a special treat. After lunch Mateja was quick to instruct us all to brush our teeth AND floss. That’s our girl!