California in February

I grew up in Portland, where it rains 300 days out of the year. And from October to May, you never go anywhere without multiple layers, as the damp air is brrrrr....cold!

When I first moved to Southern California nearly 15 years ago, I couldn't get over how people wore short sleeves and shorts on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Winter was for warm, cozy sweaters, sweatshirts, and the like.

Now, in Northern California, it isn't quite as warm as it is down south. We do wear sweaters and sweatshirts and long pants for most of the winter. But every now and then, the sun will warm us up to the point of the kids complaining that they're hot. Grant is especially likely to complain of being too warm...that boy would be naked every day if I let him.

We had a stretch of sunny weather this last week, a much needed break from the rain that has been falling since January. Grant was playing outside all by himself one afternoon, content and happy and completely self absorbed. I peeked out the window to check on him, and this is what I saw:



He was making "chocolate pie", and apparently spilled some water on his shirt, while he was running back and forth inside the house to the bathroom to fill up his cup (this explains the mysterious water path going through the house...).



Rather than come get a new shirt, or just deal with the wet one, he decided it was a good excuse to undress a bit. Makes perfect sense to me!

Catching some Zzzzzzzzzzzzs

Jack has always been a good sleeper. He can fall asleep anywhere, anyhow, it really doesn't matter. He's passed out on the cold, hard floor at a church meeting and at the table eating dinner. He'll sleep sitting up, laying down, or anywhere in between. He sleeps when he's tired, he sleeps when he's nervous or anxious about something, he'll sleep if he's bored, when the sun is high or the moon is shining bright. He never suffers from insomnia...lucky boy...

The other night, I came home from a meeting and found Steve and the kids on the couch watching TV.

This was how I found Jack. Tell me that looks comfortable.



I hope he's always able to sleep when he needs or wants to. Though if it holds true that kids do most of their growing when they're sleeping, he may turn out to be ten feet tall.

After the first...

I always swore I would never be one of those parents to treat the second and third children any different than the first. My mom took a million pictures of me. She took about half a million pictures of my brother Isaac. And even fewer of my youngest brother Shepard. I planned not to repeat that.

When Olivia lost her first tooth the summer after kindergarten, it was cause for huge celebration. She had barely closed her eyes when the Tooth Fairy magically slipped into her room with a handwritten note congratulating her, along with a crisp dollar bill. The next morning, I woke up before she did and eagerly awaited her enthusiastic entry into our room announcing that the Tooth Fairy had visited while she slept.

Jack lost two teeth last summer after an unfortunate tumble out of bed while camping. That was traumatic. I'm pretty sure the Tooth Fairy paid him a visit, but I don't remember the specifics. This week, after weeks of it hanging by a thread, literally, he finally lost his first tooth naturally. He pulled it out at recess while he was at school this week. He took the tooth to the office, where they gave him a special tooth holder necklace to keep it in until he came home.

Tuesday night, he borrowed the tooth pillow from Olivia, stuck his tooth in the pocket, and put the entire pillow under his pillow. Wednesday morning arrived, and a very disappointed Jack came moping in announcing that the Tooth Fairy hadn't come. I gasped, and threw my hand over my mouth before an inappropriate word escaped. I told Jack that maybe she hadn't been able to find the tooth, since it was hidden so well under him and he was fast asleep and she didn't want to wake him up. We agreed that Wednesday night, the tooth pillow would wait on the dresser.

Wednesday night, as Steve and I climbed into bed, he looked at me and asked if the Tooth Fairy had come yet. Oops...so he ran downstairs and fished two crumpled up dollar bills out of his wallet, took the tooth out of the pillow and replaced it with money.

This morning, Jack was thrilled to announce that the Tooth Fairy had found him last night, and left him two whole dollars!

I fear that by the time Grant starts losing teeth, the "Tooth Fairy" won't even wait until he's asleep. She'll just throw him a buck or two and be done with it.

A Sneak Peak at River City...

As many of you know, Olivia has been rehearsing for her role in StarStruck Theatre's production of The Music Man since early October. The show opened last weekend, to rave reviews. There have been raving write-ups in all the local papers, including the San Francisco Examiner, on the caliber of acting and production in this youth theatre ensemble.

Here's a little peek at the show:



This has been an amazing experience for Olivia. If you live close by, come see the show. If you don't, you're missing out! Tickets are available online at the StarStruck Theatre website.

Feeling the love...

A friend sent me the link to this video. It is worth watching. And remembering the love that can be ours.

Whirlwinds for the Whitakers!

We here in the Whitaker household know how to get things done. At least some of the time.

In the course of the past week, we have assisted in preparing Olivia for her opening night debut of The Music Man! This entailed late night practices every night for the last 10 days (rehearsing from 5-11 every night), learning how to curl her hair and apply make up to make her look like a River City Girl from 1912. Up close, she looks like a vixen. But on stage, she's an adorable, innocent little girl!

On Friday, the entire cast appeared on The View From The Bay - a live afternoon talk show here in the Bay Area. To see her, go here. She's one of the girls in a purple dress & white pinafore.

Saturday night was opening night. While rehearsals last week were a bit bumpy, the first performance was out-of-this-world amazing! I laughed, I cried, and I rejoiced in the fact that our daughter has an opportunity to participate in something like this. The mayor of Fremont was in attendance, delivering a proclamation declaring January 2010 as "StarStruck Theatre Month". At curtain call, not a single person was sitting in their seat. And it wasn't just parents in the audience!

My dad and Barb were here for opening night, and enjoyed the festivities surrounding the performance. They were good sports as I went on and on about how adorable Olivia looked. And they agreed!

On top of all this, we have decided to put our house on the market. A big For Sale sign is out front, and our first potential buyer just left. It has been a crazy few days of de-cluttering and de-Whitakerizing the house. I don't know that it's ever been so neat and tidy. If only it could stay this way forever...

We are hoping to make a move up to Pleasanton in the near future. We located a house that we just love, and are hoping our house sells quick enough that we are able to snatch the other one off the market before someone else does. It's a decision that we both feel great about, in spite of how overwhelming the process appears right now. One day at a time, we'll get through it!

In the meantime, if you know of someone who is looking to buy a beautiful, spacious home in the hills of Fremont...send them our way!

Welcome Twenty-Ten!

I always love the new year—it's a great time to start over and let go of the past year (or decade, or whatever). I like setting goals for the new year, even if some may seem a bit out of reach. "It's better to shoot for the stars and miss than aim at the gutter and hit it!".

So this morning over doughnuts, our family set some goals for the new year.

Steve:
1. Get under 200 lbs. by March and sustain it through the year.
2. Lower golf index to a single digit handicap.
3. Continue for family to be #1 priority.

Olivia:
1. Train for and complete a kids triathlon.
2. Get straight As in school.
3. Eat healthier.
4. Make it into the next StarStruck play (tryouts aren't until September, she's just getting ready for her current production to open!)

Jack:
1. Become the next greatest swimmer
2. Play lots of baseball and golf.

Grant:
1. Golf on the deck into the water (no idea what this means, but Grant was pretty clear on this one)
2. Learn to bike ride with no training wheels.

And last, but not least, here are my goals for the new year:
1. Drop 15 lbs. by March, and maintain it throughout the year. I'm determined this year.
2. Exercise at least 1 hour 5 days a week.
3. Read another 15 books (I exceeded this goal in 2009, I think I hit 22 by year end.) - including re-reading The Book of Mormon.
4. Get an article published in a national magazine.
5. Complete a creative writing project, and see where it leads.
6. Spend 1-2 hours weekly on creative outlets - sewing, scrapbooking, creating, etc.

7. Plan out our menus weekly and add some new variety to our meals.

I'm excited for this year. I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be a great one!