These days...

These days, in no particular order:

*I sleep like a log.  Unless I'm awakened in the middle of the night by a dream, or Chloe's aching leg, or Ryan's bleeding nose (common culprits), and my brain starts running.  Then I'm guaranteed an hour long toss and turn fest, or in tonight's case, said hour, followed by a, "Sheesh, might as well get up and write a blog post."

*Chloe continues to sass, question and critique me on a regular basis.  Some days I'm convinced she's more hormonal than I am.  Thank goodness that with the drama comes a genuinely caring and compassionate heart.  She really is a good girl (with an attitude).

*Ryan, my once mellow, chill kid, is beginning to demonstrate some undesirable personality traits, namely temper tantrums.  This has never been in his nature, ever!  Today he told me, "Mom, you're starting to make me angry."  Not a huge fan of this "phase," but I'll take his communicative efforts over the silent treatment his sister so often gives me, any day!  Thank goodness he still has that tender, sweet side.

*I'm 2 1/2 months into the busiest and most humbling church calling I've ever had: Young Women president.  Much like motherhood, it's tiresome and never-ending.  Even when the boxes are checked, activities planned, lessons prepared, meetings completed, reports submitted, visits made, hugs given, and prayers said, there's still an unspoken weight on my shoulders.  It's a weight that as a past YW counselor and advisor (a few times over), I never, ever felt to this magnitude.  And try as I might to lighten things (through organization, delegation and prayer), I'm beginning to accept that it just goes with the territory of being president.  Just as mothers never, ever stop worrying about their children, I never, ever stop worrying about my girls.  I never knew it was possible to love a group of young women so much.

{Girls Camp 2014!!}  

*I listen to a lot of Ella Fitzgerald on Pandora.  Her music and music like hers soothes my soul, and literally takes the edge off when I'm stressed.  Some days she's my BFF.

*My children make me crazy.  If there's an argument or competition to be had, they find a way.  I'm constantly having to intervene, and sadly, most days, the "blissful" moments come in millisecond form.  I don't know if it's their ages, the summer weather or routine, or just the simple fact that they're siblings and this is what siblings do, but by bedtime, I'm generally ready to shake them.  There are so many components to being a good parent.  Raising a decent, respectable human being with all the desirable traits is very hard.  So often I feel like I'm failing them, but deep down I know I'm doing my very best.  I do love them.

*Speaking of kids, their first day of school is 2 weeks from today.  What's that about!?  Third grade and Kindergarten?  Not ready.

*Neil loves his job.  He also loves his short commute and the fact that his two hospitals are right across the street from each other.  A happily employed husband makes for a happy wife, let me tell you.  And the green scrubs he wears doesn't hurt anything either.  What is it about a man in scrubs?

*I have been on a major reading kick since about February, and have read 8 novels to date.  Currently, Jane Eyre sits on my bedside table.  13 chapters in and I still have yet to be engaged.  I can tell it's about to get interesting, but I have to be honest.  Charlotte Bronte, while an excellent writer, at least in THIS novel, lacks a certain level of wit and humor that I LONG FOR.  The story line is dark and dreary so far, which doesn't make me excited to keep going.  But I know many, many people who love this novel, and it is a classic after all, so I'm expecting that I'll start to get sucked in soon.  I hope so anyway!  Reading is therapy to me.  I've sacrificed sleep to make it happen these recent months, but it's worked wonders for my soul and sanity.

*We continue to stay busy with house projects and furniture.  So far, Neil has built a dining room table, a TV stand, both kids' bedroom sets (beds, night stands and dressers) and a step stool for the bathroom.  Last week while I was at girl's camp, he installed paneling in Ryan's room, and tonight finished crown molding.  There's still SO much to be done, but we're slowly making our house a home.  Father's Day marked 1 year since we moved in.  Hard to believe.

*I'm ready for Fall!!  These consecutive days in triple digits with zero chance of precipitation is getting old.

Grateful for the good things in my life, and also the trials.  My constant hope is that both can continually mold me into a better Valeri.

{Fort Collins, CO - July 2014}

Tilden Park

Last Friday, the kids and I went with Heather and JD to Tilden Park in Berkley.  If you've never been, it's a great place to take your little ones.  This was our second time, and the kids loved it just as much as they did the first.  We rode the steam train, twice, played on the playground, fed the farm animals celery and lettuce, and rode the merry-go-round, also twice.  The kids had a blast, and it was wonderful being out of the heat.  On the drive up, there's an area to your left, where you can enjoy a stunning view of the San Francisco Bay.  Wish I'd captured it, but there's always next time.  Here's what I did capture!

That last shot of Ryan has to be one of my favorites of him to date. It tells such a happy story. Love it. It was a really great day. I am so glad Heather lives less than an hour from us.  We've enjoyed so many fun times in the two years we've lived in Ripon. Thanks again, cousin, for a fun last summer outing! 

Teeth and cucumbers

Chloe has been eyeing our two largest cucumbers for a week now, begging me to let her pick them.  Each day, though they've grown significantly both in length and width, I've felt that they could use more ripening.  Well, yesterday when we took a peek and noticed their monstrous size, I decided it was time.  The kids were delighted and each picked one, then proudly displayed them for a picture!

I didn't measure them, but I'm sure they exceeded 15 inches in length.  Despite the healthy size, however, I still worried that they weren't dark enough in color.  But I worried even more that if they got any larger, they'd start to split or rot.  Well, I got it wrong all the way around, unfortunately, because they were terribly bitter to the taste, at least a good 4 inches on either end.  I don't know if you've ever eaten a bitter cucumber, but trust me, it's very BAD!  I was sad, but thankful that the middle sections of each were fine.  Upon further research, it appears I let the cucumbers sit on the vine too long, hence the bitter taste.  Lesson learned!  This morning during our morning inspection, we picked 3 more cucumbers that were about half the size.  I just ate one and it was wonderful!
 

Here's another bit of exciting news from yesterday!  Chloe lost her second tooth!  This morning I snuck in her room while she slept to make sure the tooth fairy had paid her a visit.  Thankfully, she had.

And here's this morning's harvest! 

Every day I've had this garden I've learned something new. Yesterday's lesson? Don't let the cucumbers sit on the vine too long. Today's lesson? Our watermelons will likely need to be twice the size of the 13 inch baby above before they're ready. I didn't know how large they were supposed to be before harvesting because the little label/tag I stuck in the ground when I planted what was then 2 tiny stems has disappeared in the madness of my watermelon jungle. I don't even know what type of watermelons these are, again, because I can't find the tag, but since we literally have two dozen more (no exaggeration), I figured it wouldn't hurt to experiment with this one. I think after my experience yesterday with the cucumbers, I worried, too, that if I let the watermelons sit too long, they might have adverse events like the cucumbers did.  I lifted this watermelon off the ground, smelled it, knocked on it, and inspected it just as I inspect watermelons at the grocery store.   It appeared to possibly be ready, so I just figured why not and snapped it off the vine.  Well, upon cutting into it, I instantly knew my assumptions were premature, and that I should have let it bake for at least a week longer, and possibly more. It was completely white inside and flavorless. Oh well.  It still looks pretty sitting on the table with the rest of my garden goodies.  I read a few days ago that you shouldn't plant cucumber and watermelon next to each other because cucumber can give watermelon a funny taste. I surely hope this is incorrect, or that I'm just lucky because that's exactly what I did. Their vines have even intertwined. Again, I am learning something new every day.

The largest of the zucchinis exceed even the 11 inch one we discovered upon coming home from our Yosemite trip a couple weeks ago.  That's right.  This bad boy measured over 13 inches!  I would NOT have let it grow this large had I noticed it before today, but it just blended in so well with the rest of the plant that somehow I missed it until this morning.  It's a touch seedy on the inside, but not bad at all, thankfully.  I have more zucchini than I know what to do with, but have actually managed it pretty well.  I have several cups of shredded zucchini in my freezer ready for bread, spaghetti sauce or anything else.  And I'm trying to cook with it whenever I can.  It is so good for you, and I'm trying not to let ANY of it go to waste!

And the Andersen garden adventures, and, well, adventures in general, continue...

Just another summer night

We've spent a fair amount of the summer in our yard.  Between the garden and pool, the kids have found countless ways to entertain themselves.  Last Thursday night was like any other; first tending to the garden, then slowly migrating toward the pool.  Between the warm air, perfect light and happy kids, I just had to sneak in the house to grab my camera.

I will certainly miss these warm summer nights.  I mean, how can you beat swimming until 8:30pm?  And while we're asking questions, how is it possible that school starts in one week?  Ahh!!  It goes too fast!

"Two pairs!"

Today was a pretty good day.  No plans really; nothing pressing; just time spent with my kids.  The weather was mild with temps in the low 80s and a lovely afternoon breeze.  Neil was out the door, headed to Sacramento by 6.  Ryan was in my room by 7, announcing he had stayed dry all night and would be receiving a star on his chart as a result.  He then crawled into bed with me and, to my surprise, fell asleep for another two and a half hours.  Both he and Chloe slept well past 9.  Apparently their six hour play date with friends yesterday wore them out big time.  Chloe got up first and the two of us headed out to the garden to check on our onions.  Ryan got up shortly thereafter and met us outside.  Then we came in and they each ate a slice of zucchini bread for breakfast.  The rest of the morning consisted of playing with legos, taking baths, practicing piano and some other miscellaneous things.  There was bickering, but it was minimal, which was a nice change.  Around lunch time, we headed to the park.  After that, it was onto the library to finish our daily outing.  We love the library.  I didn't start taking the kids there regularly until just recently and that makes me sad.  Why I wasn't taking Chloe from the time she was a toddler I haven't a clue.  I guess it just never really occurred to me.  But now that both of the kids are a little older, I suppose it's more manageable and meaningful.  Since school let out at the end of May, we've made a habit of going every couple of weeks.  We sit together and sift through potential books to check out, read a few out loud, and then each kiddo grabs a basket and fills it with some new favorites to take home.  The limit is 25 books, and today, we checked out exactly that.

This evening during dinner, I informed the kids that their dad would read them some of their new books before bed if they were good.  Chloe then asked Neil if they could each choose two books.  Neil nodded, then presented Ryan with the following question:

"Ryan, if Chloe chooses two books to read and if you choose two books to read, how many books will we read total?"

Chloe immediately raised her hand, eager to answer, but Neil shushed her and repeated the question for Ryan.  Ryan thought for a few seconds, then replied, "Two pairs!"

We chuckled.  Even though technically the answer Neil was looking for was "four," Ryan did answer the question correctly.  How he came up with "two pairs" I haven't a clue, but it sure took some creative thinking.  When Neil asked Ryan a third time, now holding up two fingers and then two more, he got it.  Although I'm sure it helped immensely that Chloe piped in with, "I'll give you a hint, Ryan!  It starts with "f" and ends with "our." 

During the remainder of dinner and before I had to go to YW, the kids happily yakked away about various things between taking bites of their chicken parmesan, which Chloe told me was "delish."  Their voices overlapped most of the time and much of what they said was silly and irrelevant, but they were each precious and endearing, pure and sweet, and at one point I put my fork down, sat back and just watched them with a smile on my face.  I love their enthusiastic little spirits.  I love their zest for life.  I love their bright and cheerful personalities.  I love their blue eyes.  I love how much they love me, how they rely on me, and how eager they are to share with me everything that matters to them.  I love that they won't let me leave them without a hug and a kiss, and how they wave goodbye to me through the kitchen door as I back out of the garage.  I love that they care about my feelings and opinions, and that when they do something that makes me sad, they too feel sad.  It isn't necessarily frequent that I just adore everything about motherhood, but today I enjoyed many good, healthy moments, and I just had to write about them here.  I was conversing with a friend this morning (while the kids still slept), and mentioned at one point how I sometimes wish I could take a blissful moment and trap it in a jar, only to be opened for a quick whiff when I need a boost.  Today was one of those days I could have easily captured and placed in a jar for a rainy day.  I really do love the life God gave me, as challenging as it sometimes is, and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Oh, and I do believe that from this point forward, I will be referring to four as "two pairs."  :)

4th of July mini shoot

A couple weeks ago, I tagged along with my friend, Misty to this awesome patriotic wall in Escalon so she could scope out the morning light for some upcoming mini sessions she had scheduled, and also to take some pictures of Lorilee's kiddos.  While there, I snapped some pictures myself.


Here's Chloe with her little friends, Dylen and Sydney.  I am really sad that Brooklyn and Nikell are not in these pictures, but they were in Utah at the time.  :(  I can't say enough how grateful I am for Chloe's friends.  I think it's every mother's wish that her children have good friends, and my wish has, no doubt, been granted.  They are all such sweet girls - every one of them! - and they've built some fun memories together.  I still need to share pictures from their ballet recital in May!

Left to right: Ryan, Chloe, Dylen, Ryder, Caleb, Ethan, Max, Sydney, and Ashley 


My favorite  :)



"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." -Harry S. Truman

The festivities of the July 4th are fun and all, but like any holiday, it's sometimes easy to lose sight of what we're really celebrating. I am grateful for those courageous souls from centuries ago who fought for the freedoms I enjoy today, and for those who continue to make great sacrifices to maintain those freedoms. 

To those individuals, thank you!  And to America, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Blueberry picking

On Thursday, I took the kids blueberry picking at Jessop Farms.  My friends Janea and Jody (and their boys) were there, and together we picked berries, then let the kids run around and play.  This place is great because they have a huge sandbox area (with blue sand), a miniature golf course (as in 4 holes), a playground, and a bounce house!  By the time we left, the kids were rosy-cheeked and exhausted.  It was a good day.

Next week they will have strawberries ready for picking, so you'd better believe we'll be headed back!