Sorry for the Mess

I was playing with the header and instead of "preview" I clicked "save" and lost the other one. I suppose I could change it back, but instead of spending the time, I'm getting the layout changes done on a test blog and then I'll move that template over. Good thing to think of after you mess up, eh?

I'm hoping to have the new layout done by next week. Everything is going well except for two little things that I know I can do, but it isn't working right. I'm certain it is something simple like a misplaced tag or div. We'll see.

'Lo

Wow. I can't believe its been so long since I've posted. The last couple posts don't count since I have had them set to go live for a while. (Notice I even forgot to put the pictures in the post about the closets?)

Things here have been good and for a while were wonderful. Then I slept odd and my shoulder has been stiff and sore and despite the fact that I thought we were almost done with allergies, they came back with a vengence. Ahhh...the joys of spring. We won't even talk about the rain. That's right, rain. In southern California. In June.

We started The Summer of Fun with a trip to Disneyland on June 1 with Aunt Jackie, Aunt Kathy and cousins Emma and Cole. The girls have decided that they love Pirates of the Carribean and claim they will go on The Matternhorn next time. We'll see about that. We are also talking of making a trip just to get pictures and autographs and not even bother with the rides.

The Disney Channel's summer weekday line-up doesn't include Little Einsteins so we rented a disc that has become their favorite. Seriously, they don't want to see anything except Rescue of the Firebird. So, since we had a major potty breakthrough at Disneyland (Batya not only sat on a public toilet, but used it) Aba said to buy them the DVD. So now I know that nerpas are the only fresh water seals in the world.

It rained on Wednesday so we skipped the farmer's market, so no local meal this week. Sorry.

Talk About Preschooler Closets

I stumbled upon the totally awesome Talk About Tuesday meme over at The Lazy Organizer and knew I had to join in. It also coincided oh so nicely with the work I'm doing to make the girls' space more independent. 

I recently finished the girls' closet and introduced their expanded dressing options to them. Before they had had choice of shoes, pjs and a pick of the outfits I would bring out. 

I lowered two shelves (one of which acts as a clothing rod) and put down a small selection of socks, shirts, skirts, dresses and pjs. I also explained that if they wanted any of the things on the top shelves to ask Ima or Aba. I'm all for letting them choose, but I'm not going to let them wear a white silk dress to park day.

It worked pretty well but did take waaaaay longer than it could have taken. And even with what I thought was possibly overwhelming number of choices, Chaya still stood there exclaiming, "there isn't anything to wear!" while her sisters were finishing getting dressed. Also, Batya's lovely helpful tendencies can cause quite a bit of problems when she heads into the closet  and emerges with three dresses and attempts to pass them out. I suppose she'll learn.

The only downfall is the potentailly odd outfits they can emerge with. 

Summer of Fun (List)

PLACES TO GO 

1. Los Angeles Zoo
   
2. Los Angeles Museum of Natural History
   
3. Getty Museum
   
4. Getty Villa
   
5. Huntington Library
   
6. La Brea Tar Pits/Page Museum
   
7. Disneyland
   
8. San Diego Zoo
   
9. Sea World
   
10. San Diego Wild Animal Park
    
11. Beach
    
12. Strawberry Picking
13. Watermelon Picking
14. Blueberry Picking
15. Kidspace
    
16. Balboa Park
17. Movies
18. The Grove
19. Hot Air Balloon Ride
20. Third Street Promenade at night
21. Aquarium of the Pacific
22. Queen Mary
23. Discovery Cube

Things to Do

1. Make Playdough
   
2. Watercolor
   
3. Scrapbook
   
4. Take pictures
   
5. Feed the Ducks
   
6. Bake Bread
   
7. Bake Cookies
   
8. Bake a Cake
   
9. Make Ice Cream
   
10. Make Butter
    
11. Make Rice
    
12. Make Pizza
    
13. Make Tortillas
    
14. Make Pita
    
15. Make Tissue Paper Candle Holders
16. Make Paper Plate Masks
17. Bake Pretzels
18. Make Clean Mud
19. Vegetable Stamping
20. Make Salt Dough 
21. Felt Wool
22. Make a Found Art Project
23. Make Marbelized Paper
24. Make Sandpaper Art
25. Fly a Kite
26. Dye White Flowers
27. Decorate a frame for the girls' artwork

Summer of Fun

I am officially declaring this summer to be the "Summer of Fun".  Well, not really the summer, but rather Shavuot through Rosh haShanah. (May 28 to September 19) Summer starts June 21 and ends September 22 which is way too late for us to start.

Basically, I've created a list of  50 fun things to do over the summer for the girls and I with occassional outings with Aba. Some are full-fledged gotta plan for this trips. Some are crafts. Some are experiments to do at home. Some are are small trips that can be done on the fly. The things that I need to plan for are on my calendar. The rest I've written onto slips of paper and put into a shoe box that we've decorated. Those we will pick one each day and go for it. (I've selected 50 things so that we have erev Shabbat, Shabbat and one other day a week "off" plus a couple other days where we can revisit something or add a new fun thing to the list.)

The whole point of this is that I've started to get melancholy about my little babies growing up. They are using the potty, preparing their own lunches, getting themselves dressed, refusing to ride in the stroller and buckling their carseats. All those little things that I didn't realize I would miss so much.

So I've decided to take the bull by the horns and spend this summer really enjoying their toddlerness before they are too cool to hang with Ima.