California Love: Where were you during the Blizzard of 2013?

Dear Em,

* This is the first of 5 posts recapping our California adventure. See also California Love: the Food, California Love: 10 Things to do in San Francisco, California Love: Wine Country, & love letters *

I can't believe our California adventure is already over. I'm going to spend this week recapping some of the highlights. In my mind it was all a highlight, but I'll try to fit it all into five posts. The funny thing is, one of the most notable things about our California trip didn't even happen in California, the blizzard of 2013.

By the time you're old enough to read these posts, I don't know if people will still be talking about the Blizzard of 2013. I wonder if people will remember where they were, how many hours they spent digging their driveways & cars out of the snow, & if they lost power.

Daddy & I just missed the storm. Had we booked our flight a day later, we could've missed our California trip altogether. The amazing thing about Facebook is that you feel like you can experience things without even being there. I can't tell you how many pictures were posted of people's back decks being covered with snow, doors that wouldn't open to the outside because of the large snow drifts, & small children & dogs that were shorter than the up to 40 inches of snow that piled onto of New England.

Meanwhile, I was outside with my head facing the sky, taking in all the California sunshine.

You, on the other hand, were at Grandma & Papa's house having a blast in the winter wonderland.

Your daddy was freaking out about not being able to get to our house once we returned because of the amount of snow that wouldn't be cleared from our driveway. With most of Rhode Island without power, we were both worried that you would freeze without power at Grandma & Papa's. I called your nonnie to let her know that you were alright & asked her to say a little prayer that you guys kept power. It was then she shared she had been praying for a great big storm so that we could play in the snow together (she knew how badly you wanted a snow day). So, there it is. Blame the blizzard of 2013 on your nonnie (she also caused a summer full of rain).

Thank God you never lost power & stayed warm & safe throughout the blizzard of 2013. We were also blessed to find a good Samaritan had plowed our driveway before we returned (we're still not sure who it was). Plus, the weekend after we returned from California, we got our snow day together. Only a few inches this time, & that was just fine with us.

There was snow angel making.

We made a snowbaby.

There was sledding.

Daddy buried you in the snow.

And there was a one-mommy-open-sleigh ride.

There was also a snowball fight. You said you wanted one. When Daddy threw a snowball at you you said, "hey! Don't throw snow at me." That was pretty much the extent of the snowball fight.

So, maybe Rhode Island doesn't have mustard flower filled vineyards & warm sunshine in February like California does. Still, it feels good to be home.

I love you so,

Mommy

love letters

Dear Em,

"And if you still smelled bad, I wouldn't mind, and I would hug you tight and whisper in your ear, 'I love you, Stinky Face.'"

- I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt

There is a keepsake storybook collection called "I Love You" that my mom bought you when you were young. The collection includes some of my favorites, I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak & I Love You Because You're You by Liza Baker. The collection is so long that we typically just take time for a couple stories, & I almost always go right into my favorites...until the other day.

I was getting ready for work &, per usual, you were buzzing with excitement around me. As I was trying to concentrate on what was ahead of me that day, I half noticed you twirling around me & was only half listening to you. I was trying to listen to you & keep my head on straight. I would murmur "mmmmhmmm" every few moments or so to simulate that I was listening, but I had a million things going on in my head.

When I finally took a moment to give you my full attention, I realized you were reading me a book. If I didn't know better, I would have thought you were actually reading. Actually, you were reciting by memory. It was the cutest stinkin' thing to watch & made my heart so happy.

"Em, what are you doing?" I asked. "I tooooooold you. I'm reading Stinky Face!" you rolled your eyes.

At that moment, I couldn't have thought about getting dressed or what I needed to get done that day if I tried. You had me at Stinky Face. It's seriously the most adorable children's book. The true beauty for me was the presentation of the story. I don't know how you had most of it memorized (I'd never even read it), but you did. You made faces. You did different voices. There were hand gestures. It was adorable & hilarious & amazing.

So, now I have a new favorite book & just another reason why I love my very own Stinky Face.

I love you so,

Mommy

Happy Valentine's Day 2013

Dear Em,
Happy Valentine's day to the one who caused my heart to grow in love in ways I didn't think possible. Today started out with hugs & smiles & laughter as we exchanged Valentine's. You were super excited that we saved some owls & cookies for you.

As another surprise, our home is blanketed in snow again (there was a blizzard over the weekend...more about that soon). There is a one hour delay in our town, which means Daddy gets to work from home today. You're excited that I'll be bringing you to school instead, because you have a little extra time to watch morning cartoons. I think that's the best Valentine's Day surprise of all for you.

I feel so fortunate that we can be together as a little family to celebrate, & I know we'll be thinking about our family & friends near & far & wishing that all their days are full of love. We're both looking forward to stopping at Dunkin Donuts to pick up a heart shaped donut before bringing you to school, where you'll exchange Valentine's with your sweet little friends. After school, we're repeating what has become a Valentine's Day tradition & heading to a "fancy restaurant."

I don't think Valentine's Day was ever so fun before there was you. While every day is full of "I Love You's," for a girl who loves pink & sparkles & giving hugs, Valentine's Day holds a special kind of magic. We love sharing the magic with you.

I love you today & every day.

I love you so,

Mommy

Our Valentines 2013

Dear Em,
We...ok, I...may have gone a little overboard with our Valentines this year. It's just that when I thought back to last year's Valentines, it made me sad to think that this year wouldn't be as fun. So, I started planning... in December.

I was at my parent's house leafing through the Oriental Trading magazines, when I found so many fun ideas. You're a fan of owls, & there were tons of fun owl Valentine ideas. I just couldn't pick one. Soooo, I didn't.

The first part of your Valentines I ordered from Oriental Trading Company. They weren't expensive & were easy to assemble. We didn't even have to use glue for the most part. Each foam piece was sticky when you peeled away the paper backing. I liked that you could work on them independently. Although, with your class-size being as big as it is, I helped out. We also spread out the crafting over two days in order to avoid overwhelming you.

By the end of the second day, you ran & hid every time I mentioned the word Valentine. At least we had a bunch of wicked cute owl bags.

That was about when I realized, I may have over estimated your love of making Valentines. You see, I found the most adorable owls (also in an Oriental Trading catalogue). Did I keep things simple & also order them when I ordered the bags? Nope, I decided I could save money & we could easily create them ourselves. Except that they weren't easy to create ourselves (doable, but not easy), & they weren't exactly a child-friendly craft.

Some mommies may have decided at that moment to scale back & keep it simple. Apparently, I am not one of those mommies. For me, it was too late, I was already committed to my plan. I'm embarrassed to admit I may have created the second part of your Valentines myself.

These are the materials needed for each little owl:

- 1 head (I just kind of free hand drew one & then traced 36 more...yup, I made 36 of these bad boys)

- 1 circle for the belly (I used a tupperware container & traced)

- 1 golden cone for the beak

- 2 brown wings

- 2 blue circles for the eyes

- 2 google eyes

- 2 gold hearts for the feet (I used a heart puncher to make these)

- 1 heart doiley for the belly

- 1 Valentine message in the shape of a heart (I printed messages I typed out & also used the heart punchers for this)

Since you weren't feeling like helping me anyway, I used the glue gun to glue everything together. Voila! 36 adorable little Valentine owls.

If I didn't love them so much, I would hate myself for taking on such a child unfriendly craft.

We weren't done yet. Since you had so much fun helping me bake Christmas sugar cookies & I remembered all of the heart shape cookie cutters we own, I thought it would be fun to bake Valentine cookies to put in your owl bags. Your classroom is nut-free & I figured nut-free baking would be easier than finding nut-free candy anyway. We're going to bake them tonight, & I hope your little friends & amazing teachers love their handmade Valentines tomorrow.

Also, I promise that'll we'll pick out a 4-year-old friendly project next year...well, at least I promise to try.

I love you so,

Mommy

the mad concentration face

Dear Em,
Its amazing having kids. There's a little person thats half of you. From the moment you were born, I started to wonder which parts of you were me, which parts of you were Daddy, & which parts would just be unique to you.

Your mad concentration face, I know, you get from me. I am constantly stopped in stores or on the street by strangers that tell me to "smile, it's not that bad." Now when I look at your sweet, little, angry-looking, concentrating face, I understand why.

Although the world may think we're really, really angry, at least you & I know we're really smiling on the inside.

I love you so,

Mommy

Jumping on the Healthy Smoothie BandWagon

Dear Em,
I started this year off feeling exhausted, really really exhausted. I felt as though I could have slept all day & that still wouldn't be enough. I had started working out again, but even that didn't seem to help. At the time, my facebook page was being plastered with pictures of smoothies...green smoothies.

Back before there was you & I wasn't exhausted & wasn't trying to loose weight, I drank smoothies...well, because they're delicious. I loved Panera's strawberry smoothies at the time & found a smoothie recipe in Bridal Guide Magazine that tasted almost the same.

Strawberry-Melon Smoothie

1 cup orange juice

1 cup cut-up cantaloupe

1 8 oz. carton nonfat plain yogurt

1 10oz bag frozen unsweetened strawberries

In blender, puree orange juice with cantaloupe. Add other ingredients & blend. Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 93 calories.

Now I am exhausted & I could also stand to use a few pounds. So, I decided to jump on the healthy smoothie bandwagon. I still stick with this recipe, but I add a lot more (oh, & I totally forgot about the cantaloupe, can't even remember the last time we used that). So, now we add a banana, cubed pineapple with juice, & frozen blueberries. There are times when we also add a peeled avocado. Sometimes instead of regular milk, we use unsweetened coconut milk. I tend to use Chobani instead of regular yogurt, & we use a little bit of honey to sweeten. 

The biggest thing we've added is kale. Before this year, I had never tasted kale, but it seemed like everyone was praising it's healthiness. I googled the difference between kale & spinach. Their calorie content was similar, but kale was reported to have more vitamin content. I liked the idea of incorporating it into our smoothies, but knew it would be a smoothie fail if they didn't taste good. I mean, I just didn't want to feel like I was drinking a salad. 

Because our blender didn't cost $500 & we're not willing to part with $500 to buy a "good blender," I use our food processor to chop up the kale before putting it into the smoothie. I then put the kale in with the liquids & blend that up to make it a little more smooth.

While our kale smoothies are slightly more chunky in texture & can be greenish in color, I can't taste a difference. I love them. Daddy loves them. You love them. Definitely a smoothie win.

I like to make our smoothies the night before, & I drink mine as breakfast (which saves a lot of time in the morning). I typically stuff our ingredients to the top & have enough smoothie for all of us for two days. We're about a month in & going smoothie strong. I feel less tired (although, maybe it's just in my head) & feel better about adding to our fruit & veggie servings.

Plus, you think making smoothies is wicked fun. It's cute. You beg us to make smoothies together even when we still have smoothie left over. You seem to prefer them even over milkshakes (I'm not so sure I agree with that). Maybe being healthy can be fun & taste good.

I love you so,

Mommy

love letters

Dear Em,
I read this quote & smiled. You know when you read something that feels like it's really meant for you? That's how these words made me feel.

"Dear Human,
You’ve got it all wrong. You didn’t come here to master unconditional love. That is where you came from and where you’ll return. You came here to learn personal love. Universal love. Messy love. Sweaty love. Crazy love. Broken love. Whole love. Infused with divinity. Lived through the grace of stumbling. Demonstrated through the beauty of… messing up. Often. You didn’t come here to be perfect. You already are. You came here to be gorgeously human. Flawed and fabulous. And then to rise again into remembering. But unconditional love? Stop telling that story. Love, in truth, doesn’t need ANY other adjectives. It doesn’t require modifiers. It doesn’t require the condition of perfection. It only asks that you show up. And do your best. That you stay present and feel fully. That you shine and fly and laugh and cry and hurt and heal and fall and get back up and play and work and live and die as YOU. It’s enough. It’s Plenty."

-Courtney A Walsh

I love you so,

Mommy

a little known secret

Dear Em,
When I was growing up my dad was in the Navy, & we lived all over the country. It's funny how we see things as children. If you talk to most people about San Francisco, you'll hear raving reviews. For me, San Francisco left me feeling disappointed & lied to. I'm going to tell you a little known secret. The Golden Gate bridge isn't gold...it's red. Gasp! I know. How could they lie to us like that?! It's like going to the Emerald City & not finding any emeralds or discovering that the Empire State Building isn't any taller than you are. Then again, I was in first grade when I lived in California. So, I guess that's what's important when you're six years old.

Today, actually right now, we're flying to San Francisco. Your daddy is turning 30, & I surprised him with a California trip to celebrate. You're spending some time with Grandma & Papa. We will miss you terribly & skype you at every possible moment, but I'm so excited to see San Fran (& Napa too) through adult eyes. Something tells me it's going to be a whole different place.

I love you so,
Mommy

Love is all Around

Dear Em,
The weather has been freezing here in Rhode Island (actually, it's been freezing across the country), & we've "got our love to keep us warm." It may be cold & grey outside, but inside it's filled with pops of color & fun. A lot of bloggers seemed to share the same idea, using doilies to decorate for Valentine's Day. Lucky for us, we had a few extras after finishing up our Valentine crafts. I added our doilies to leftover fishing wire & glue, & we filled our house with doily garlands.

We don't have a fireplace, but sometimes I pretend our TV is one. Seriously, I actually have a fireplace DVD. Is that weird?

I hung doily garlands from the curtain rods in the living room, & taped hearts that were saved from previous years. You went with me to the craft store to look for some red vines to put in a vase, but it was the pink roses that caught your eye.

It breaks my heart to think about erasing your window masterpiece, & I thought it was too soon to take down our snowflakes. Instead, we added hearts to what was already there.

It's the one time of year we fill our home with pink & red, & you couldn't be more thrilled. To you, it's a perfect backdrop for your precious dance performances.

Is it just me, or are you the most perfect Valentine's Day decoration?

I love you so,

Mommy

The End of Football

Dear Em,
I feel like football season just started. When the sounds of football return each fall, it makes my heart happy. It means yummy food, one of my favorite sports, fantasy football, & lazy family time. How is it over already? What's worse, while for most people football ended this past Sunday, for us it pretty much ended two weeks ago. It was a sad ending for wicked big Patriots fans.

I was looking back at our last three football seasons together. In 2010, you were days old for your first Patriots game. Your jersey fit you like a dress, while my body was still too swollen to fit into mine. Unfortunately, the Patriots didn't play very well for you, but you didn't really care. You slept through the majority of the game.

During the 2010/2011 season, you were so stinkin' cute toddling around in your jersey. We watched all of our games in the family room while you played with your toys. The Patriots lost in the playoffs, while your daddy & I were in Vegas. Saddest end to a Vegas trip ever.

For the 2011/2012 season, we moved to the comfort of our living room. Each Sunday we moved bins of your toys in with us, & you read books & played with babies while we all cheered on our Patriots. Sadly, the Patriots lost in the last moments of the Superbowl...to the Giants. It was good that by then it was past your bedtime, & you got to sleep through the misery.

You grew out of your red, just-like-daddy, Brady jersey this season. We replaced it with a blue one, & you're not thrilled about it. You tell us that blue is for boys, but I make you wear it anyway. You spend games watching something else in the family room while we cheer the Patriots on from the living room. My favorite moments have been when you run into the living room to see what all the yelling is about & join us in celebratory dances. The AFC Championship game was a hard one to lose (again, you should be happy it happened after your bedtime).

We kinda didn't really care about this year's Superbowl. It was overshadowed by one of our best friend's birthday celebrations & an upcoming vacation. For the first time in longer than I can remember, we didn't even make any plans to watch it with anyone. It's really the most blah we've been about Superbowl Sunday ever. In fact, your Daddy & I didn't even start cooking our Superbowl snacks until the game started & missed most of the first half.

You were all set with football, but came prepared to provide us with some halftime entertainment. I know I've said this before, but you really make everything better. I stinkin' love you so much!

How many days is it until the 2013/2014 season?

I love you so,

Mommy