7/08 - Mousie smiles and says "Cheese!"

I went to the kitchen to fill my water bottle, and look what Mousie did while I was gone!  I think I know what he wants for lunch…

2/05 - Stunt Team #03 races into lunch

He made a sharp turn and almost landed in the cheese!  The girl behind the counter was not amused, so we went back to work.

After work, I went out for dinner and many laughs with my girls Jeanine and Elizabeth.

* Spelling words in bold.

1/20 - Angry Birds Birthday Party

My little guys are not so little anymore...  This weekend, the twins turned SEVEN (7) years old.  They are fast-paced gangly people with strong opinions and fierce imaginations that still let me hug and kiss them up at will.    #love  This year, they wanted an Angry Birds Star War party.  Super cool, but there isn't much merch out there to buy yet.  Not that this was going to stop me...

Nor was their teacher's request to only send healthy snacks (no cupcakes!)...  Inspired by the post at bentology, I made piggie spinach tortilla sandwiches with garden cream cheese spread and not-healthy candy eyes.  The birds were crackers and provolone cheese, with carrot beaks, not-healthy candy eyes, and seaweed eyebrows.  Crouching Mother, Hidden Toddler's tutorial for painting cheese is here.

For the party, I built a live action Angry Birds game.  I covered boxes with butcher's paper to make them look uniform, got some piggie stuffies from the party store, and ordered some new Angry Birds Star Wars stuffies to throw at them and knock them all down.  The kids worked as a team to build up the structures and took turns hurling the angry birds.

Next, I wanted to make an Angry Birds bowling game, but my attempts with the paint I had were not successful.  Happily, Mama had some plastic bowling pins on hand, so we used those and a ball I meant to draw a bird face onto, but I ran out of time.  The kids never noticed the lapse in theme and loved the game, so I'm going to count it as a win.

Our last game was a variation on Hot Potato -- Pass the Angry Bird.  Whoever was left with the bird in hand when the music stopped "got exploded."  We played three rounds!

Then, it was time for cupcakes!  You can use my cupcake topper template.

Happy birthday, my sweeties!  I love you!

1/17 - Ghostie and Creature Power Disk get artsy

What exactly do Ghosties eat? I don’t think Creature Power Disks do lunch either.  More cheese for me, then!

They liked this statue in Justin Herman Plaza, maybe because it looks like it’s made up of power disks?

I put CPD on me and used the Super Mommy Power to fly to the top of the statue!  But people were looking at me and I got shy, so we came back down.  What a view, though!

7/31 - Headless Mario is a star!

He loved being in the spotlight and started to do a little dance.  The BART commuters in the station thought he was a little strange.  (It could be the missing head thing….)

Mario -- look out!  You’re about to be hit by a VW bus!  Get out of the road!  Someone get him a seeing eye dog right away...

Speaking of dogs, Rosemary and I saw a big, fluffy, interesting dog at the restaurant.

Then we ate way too much macaroni and cheese... Nom.

7/09 - Love Bear gets some clip-on earrings

Doesn’t she look pretty? (David took us out for birthday grilled cheese sammiches.)

Love Bear loves a pretty bridge. Who doesn’t, really?

Speaking of love, isn't the princess water bottle present from Lil' Guy super sweet?

9/08 - Don't let Squawkie hear you say "stupid."

Squawkie was reading the pirate comics Wanda gave me, and was laughing up a storm until we got to this one…

We found the Toasty Melts food truck down the street and couldn’t resist. My grilled cheese sandwich has apple butter on it, and it’s stunningly good.  Say "cheese," Squawkie!  NOM!

7/30 - Say cheese, Z!

Grandmother and Aunt Patty hanker for a hunka cheese.  Everything's bigger in Texas, right?

Z tried to chat up an old bird, but Rooster was not impressed with the antics of today's youth.

He took an armadillo ride while I packed for the airport. Giddy up!  We are on our way home.

Z wonders if we'll go by steampunk spaceship.  We saw this contraption at the Austin airport. Cool, right?  I'll call from my layover in PHX. Love you!

We liked the airplane carpet at PHX.  Snazzy!

There was a "meltdown on the luggage carousel" at OAK, but we eventually got my suitcase back and are now home again, home again, jiggity jog.

3/25 - Gingerbread the Tiny Dog finds mushrooms

I guess it HAS been raining a lot -- these were next to the BART parking lot.

Gingerbread thought my gooey cheese sandwich looked like an island.  (I thought it looked yummy.)

2/25 - Reader, we ran for the hills

The last time we got away for a weekend together without kids, it was early 2008.  Thanks to our friends, we were able to enjoy a getaway this weekend.

It was much more about the "what" than the "where."  While the rest of the Bay Area was a-flutter about snow flurries, we shuffled off to a cottage in the hills, where we hid out and ate cheese, lolled in the hot tub, and fell into 3-hour naps every time we sat down.  I will credit Mama with the Scrabble win and an impressive bingo on her first turn -- right after I'd triumphantly plunked down "JOCKS" for 52 points and thought I was going to win.  (Her word was TWEEZERS, if you must know. Bingo plus triple word.)

Anyway, here's a picture of cheese.  I cannot recommend the sage derby highly enough.  Or the naps.