Fabulous

We had a fabulous weekend! It started out with me heading to the city on Bart kid free to Rick's office. He had no idea I was heading there. I got there around 5ish. It seemed like a pretty sleepy office. There were only a few people around. I figured they must all be in a meeting or something. I headed to Rick's office and just sat down at his desk and waited for him. Luckily, it was just a few minutes before he came walking in and was surprised to see me. His first question was "Where are the kids?". A few minutes later we were off to start our date.

We walked over to the Wharf. I have been wanting to take him to Musee Mecanique for a long time now. This is the place that I bring "out of towners" and I thought Rick would enjoy it too. It is a museum filled with old video games and I mean old - even back to the 1800's. Each game is a quarter or two. We played some video games and got our fortunes told and our characters read by Lady Sal.




We then headed over to Ghirardeli Square were we caught the Trolley car. It was a beautiful night in the city, clear and not too cold. We rode the Trolly car across town to Union Square. We had dinner reservations at Farallon Restaurant, a delicious seafood restaurant. We had the following:

Appetizers:
Organic baby spinach with Balsamic grilled red onions, crisp gigande beans, and warm Crescenza fondue dressing.
Maine lobster bisque with cognac chantilly, chives, and extra virgin olive oil.

Main Course:
Pan seared Rhode Island black bass with green garlic puree, pea sprouts, crisp leeks, and pepper-saffron vinaigrette
Roasted Alaskan True Cod, with braised durock pork belly, crisp pancetta, roasted sunchoke, and cider reduction.

It was delicious. It was nice to sit down and enjoy a nice restaurant and delicious food without having to deal with wild kids. After dinner we took a little walk to our hotel. Rick had no idea we were staying the night. We stopped into the Clift Hotel so I could "use the bathroom". I told him it was a cool and funky looking hotel so we should take a look around - straight to our room. We liked the Clift. It was a great hotel. The crazy thing was, Rick had wanted to take me to that exact hotel when Athen was Crew's age. He had made arrangements with my mom to watch Athen and booked a room there but Athen and I both got sick and so he canceled. He had gone there for a business meeting and thought it was nice and wanted to take me there. Strange that of all the hotels in the city I picked the one hotel he wanted to take me to.

The next morning we headed out somewhat early. We had a delicious breakfast from a cafe on the way to Bart. We had a ham, cheese and egg croisant sandwich, an almond croissant and fresh squeezed orange juice. It hit the spot. We took Bart to the White Elephant Rumage Sale in Oakland. This is our favorite sale of the year. I get excited about the sale around Christmas time each year and patiently wait for its arrival. It was nice to enjoy the sale this year without a pregnant belly and a little toddler running around.

We didn't find any thing amazing like we usually do but we did get some good stuff. Of course we got lots of books for the kids. We got 54 books for $36. This year we bought books that were a little more expensive then in the past so we spent more money then we usually do on books. My favorite books are: Milton and Caps for Sale. We got a lot of old books with the best illustrations in them. We also looked for books that we grew up with in our childhood, like - Hucklebug, Scuffy the Tug Boat, and There's No Such Thing As A Dragon.




We also got Athen a pair of blue monster rain boots for $3. I think this might be my favorite purchase. He LOVES them. He put them on and wore them around. We took them off for nap time but when we went in there to get him up he had them back on. He had worn them while he was sleeping. That night after we changed him into his jammies he put his rain boots back on and wore them while papa read him bed time stories. We had to leave them out in the family room for bed time.




We found some cute European blue and red leather boots for little CrewB. They were only $2. He wore them to church today. We also got Athen a pair of skinny Levi's for $2 and a pair of blue and white striped train overalls. He looks pretty cute in them.




I bought some ice cream dishes of course. They are yellow. Although they look more brown in the picture. I also got a green glass bowl that I really like. Rick wishes I would stop buying colored glass things. We really don't have a place to put them but hopefully soon we will have a house and more space. They are going to look great when I have an outdoor dinner party in my backyard.



I also bought some orange napkins, a big black hat, a camera bag and a few little toys for the kids. By mid-day we were done with the shopping and called up Kimber (who volunteered to watch the boys overnight) to come and pick us up. The kids were doing good and happy as can be. It was like they didn't even realized that we had left them for a day. It was good to be back with the kids but a nice and needed escape.

After nap time we all headed to the park and walked around the lake and rode bikes. As we were riding bikes and playing at the park I was thinking to myself that life is good. I have a great little family and I LOVE spending time with them each weekend outdoors.
Life is Good!

This is the yellow glass pitcher that I got at the estate sale last weekend. The lighting in the picture makes it look more brown than yellow but it is yellow.

Is it summer?

We have had a nice week. On Monday Rick had the day off work so we headed to Moraga to look at some houses. We really like it out there. It is beautiful, however, no luck with the houses. We went to the park for a picnic lunch. We also got to see the firemen at the store.







On Thursday we played outside in grandma's backyard in the nice warm weather (75). We rode bikes and played ball. On Friday we went to San Jose to spend the day with grandpa O. We rode bikes down to the park and played soccer with grandpa. We also played basketball, rode the fire truck and had a picnic in the backyard.



On Saturday, there were no new houses on the market so we had the day off from house hunting. We decided to go garage sale(ing). We found some estate sales in Alameda that were GREAT. This is what I got:

1 straw hat
1 black vintage fur hat
1 pair of very old white leather baby shoes
1 set of vintage sheets for picnics at the park
1 vintage yellow glass pitcher (LOVE)
The Magic Umbrella book from 1925
1 silver shawl
all that for $3

At the next sale I got a beautiful mirror for just $5, and the next one I got:

1 box of old vintage fabric (some even labeled as 5cents a yard)
10 bonnets (I got these for the girls in the ward for Trek)
2 aprons
1 pair of vintage navy blue gloves

I think I got a few other things but I can't remember. I spent under $20 for the day. We then went to the park for a picnic lunch. After nap time we took a stroll along the lake. Athen rode his bike, I roller skated and Rick pushed the stroller. We strolled down to the bakery for some donuts. Lots of days at the park this week. We have loved this weather.

IKEA dinner party

For Christmas my family gave us a "Bathroom Reader" Book. I am not a bathroom reader. However, I was taking a bath recently and opened the book and began reading. It is a random book with crazy stories about people in the US. I read about a man in Sacramento who hosts an IKEA dinner party each year. He invites a bunch of his friends and they dress up, eat dinner in the cafe and then play board games on the showroom floor. I thought this was a brilliant and fun idea that I could easily do. I made a few changes and made it my own.
The hosts:


I first started out with some invitations. I made the IKEA logo on Illustrator. I added the Swedish words "You are hereby invited to.. (thanks to my Swedish brother in law Mats) and I designed a simple Swedish invite. I printed it on magnet paper so people could easily remember the party day and time while glancing at it every time they opened the refrigerator. I used the IKEA catalog to make envelopes for the invites and printed the IKEA logo on sticker paper to make stickers.


The instructions were to meet at the IKEA cafe at 6:00 dressed up and with a hat on. Rick and I got to IKEA early to set up our tables. We had 10 couples RSVP yes so we had 20 people. We put white table clothes down cute blue paper napkins that we bought at IKEA and 10 bottles of Kristian Regale Swedish Sparkling Pear, Lingonberry and Apple Cider (purchased from IKEA).







Once people started arriving, we got in line and ordered dinner. It was a lovely time. Towards the end of dinner I passed out envelope bags that had instructions and games pieces. The first game we played was called Noah's Ark. Each person had an animal name in their bag. Everyone spread out on the top showroom floor and had to find their animal mate by acting out their animal. No talking or noises were allowed. Once they thought they found their mate they had to report to Rick or I to see if they were correct. The second game we played was IKEA Bingo. I made IKEA Bingo cards with random squares such as - Lived outside the US, played in a band, or wore lingerie in the last week. Everyone wandered the showroom floor looking for people to fill in their squares. This was a good way to get to know each other. Once the Bingo game was over we divided into 3 groups and each group found a showroom to play games. One group played pass the pigs, another played Yahtzee, and the third played BS. The first few games people didn't necessarily know we were playing games. However, once we seperated into groups and found a showroom to play in people we smiling and asking questions.













Once the games were over we all headed downstairs for dessert. Rick stood in line and ordered 20 ice cream cones and 6 chocolate bars (for the winners of the games). The lady looked at him and said "Sir you need help". Not sure if she meant mentally or physically but it was still funny. They passed out ice cream cones to the group and we all added our own sprinkles (which I brought) just for fun.



It was a fun night and I loved that everyone dressed up in their own way and wore hats. Thanks for playing everyone.

The whole gang!

Valentine's Day

The kids and I made some Valentines for Rick. Each day in Feb. he got a little wrapped up match box with Valentines from everyone in it. We put it in his work bag each day so he would have something to open on the train each day. Some days he got little jars of candy.



The kids had a little valentines exchange at playgroup. We made little butterflies with lollipops and passed those out. They each had a little mailbox for the valentines it was cute.



We had Danny come over and babysit while Rick and I went out to dinner. We ate at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant. We had coconut prawns with peanut mustard sauce (one of my favorite appetizers - so delicious). I had my favorite clay pot with steak, chicken and prawns. I can't ever pass up getting that. It is so good. Rick had a lemongrass chicken and rice. It was nice to actually go to a restaurant and enjoy a meal together with out the kids.

Sproket/Pouf Pillow/Chair

In January I made a sproket/pouf pillow/chair for they boys. I cut out material to make two, one for each boy for their room. However, I don't really have a place to put it in our small apt. (there is no more room in Athen's room for anything) so I decided not to make the second one until we find a house and there is space for it.

I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Those of you who are super matchy matchy probablly won't like the fabric and color choice, but you know me - random colors, patterns and prints and no matching.

January

This is what we have been up to in January. We had two fires in one day in the same complex a few down from us. Athen was in Heaven all day long watching the firetrucks, fireman, and ambulances in front of our building. Too bad his happy day was someone elses sad day.



I heard Athen giggling in the family room the other day so I went to see what was going on. Little Crew was sucking on his toes and Athen was laughing and saying "again, again". I was laughing out loud.



For Christmas Rick got my a gym membership so we have started a new daily routine. Crew wakes up at the butt crack of dawn, we play for a bit. Athen wakes up at a normal time and Crew heads down for a nap. Athen and I play for a bit. Crew wakes up and we all head over to the gym in the stroller. It is about 1.2 miles from the house. the kids play with Josephina for an hour while I swim and work out. The babysitting room has a wall of windows that over look the swimming pool so Athen can watch me swim and I can wave to him after my laps. Athen has been enjoying my goggles and swim cap and thinks he is funny.


We went to Super Franks with cousin Alyssa and grandma.



We have spent some time at the park feeding the ducks and riding bikes around the lake.







We have also had some delicious meals lately. I never had the desire to have a crock pot in the past because roast, potatoes and carrots is not my favorite meal but these days there are so many other recipes out there that you can use for your crock pot, so I asked for one for Christmas. I have made a delicious chicken teriyaki, chicken tika masala (which was super excellent) and today I am making Cafe Rio pulled pork. I also made some bolgenese sauce and a sataurday morning breakfast with homemade hashbrowns in the waffle maker which was also delicious. I have been trying my new recipes on Pinterest so lucky for Ricky and my family.


We have also had some good meals out. We have Friday night family date nights each week. We all go out to dinner. It is starting to become a little more challenging with the kids to go out at 7 or 7:30 at night (bed time) on Friday nights but it is my only time to go out and get out so we do it. We had some delicious skewers a few weeks ago - beef, prawns and mahi mahi skewers they were all delicious. The next week we had fijitas - beef and shrimp also delicious. This last week we had a fresh lobster dinner with shrimp, coconut chicken and asparagus and a pork chowmein. The lobster, shrimp and pork were the best. The chicken was ok.

We have also spent our weekends this month looking for houses. All the houses for sale are all bank owned and there aren't that many out there. The banks are holding the houses so the market doesn't get saturated and they get more for the few houses available - greedy. People are making several offers on several houses and then picking which one they want which makes it difficult to get a house. The houses go on and off the market several times - annoying. And, people are offering more then the asking price for these bank owned and short sales which makes it impossible to get a good deal. Who said this was a buyers market???