Kirkland Beachfront

Spring break has started!  Last night, we flew up to Kirkland for a week of fun!  The kids were a bit groggy this morning and to be honest, so was the weather.  The forecast actually looks amazing for the rest of the week but today was pretty gray.  In order to perk up a bit and get out of the house, we went down to the marina to have some lunch and feed the ducks!

The kids absolutely love coming here.  I know I have done several posts with pictures of them feeding the ducks, running around on the beach, almost falling into the water- but I can resist doing another.  The pictures are just too beautiful. 

I did tell the kids to brush their teeth, do their hair, and get dressed this morning.  Obviously, Michael did not get the hair memo and I now have documentation of him tuning me out!  I still think he looks adorable!  And I would be lying if I didn't admit that Claire's bow hadn't been in her hair for 24 hours.  It's just how we roll, sometimes!

My Mom had made huge bags of popcorn which we took down to feed the ducks.  The ducks seem to love it and the population of our little friends seems to grow each time we return.  Maybe there is something in the popcorn!  I'd also like to state on the record that Emily just might have eaten more popcorn than she gave to the ducks!

We had gone to Subway and gotten sandwiches which were quickly inhaled by my little guys.  Soon, the popcorn was gone and their fingers were a little numb so we decided to head back to the house and say goodbye to the duckies.  I know the next time we are here, the kids will demand to return to this little beach and I will be more than happy to load them up and come back. 

Sweet Dreams

This weekend, we spent some time in Healdsburg to celebrate Megan and Caitlin's birthdays as well as see a performance of Chicago that Damien's sister Tressa was in.  It was a great break from our normal chaos and a nice chance to catch up with family and relax a bit.  Damien and I got home from the play really late.  I think it was somewhere around 11:30 p.m.  Marlene and Mark watched the kids and had them all asleep by the time we got home.  Matthew and Emily were upstairs in their own beds but Michael and Claire were downstairs and chose to share a bed.  I don't remember the last time I saw them both sleeping next to each other.  Occasionally, they have sleep overs in the boys room- but I usually leave the room while they are still awake.

As I stared at them in complete awe, I couldn't get over how big they looked.  They are my babies but certainly aren't babies anymore.  Their faces looked so sweet, so relaxed, so beautiful.  It reminded me of a picture of them when they were both really little and I was happy to have found it.  Michael and Claire, I love you both so incredibly much.  I am enjoying this journey we are on and hope that I find more time to just stare at your faces- memorizing each and every freckle and sweet detail of your faces.  I love you.  Here's to many more sweet dreams.

The Vest is Back!

Back in August of 2007, I wrote this post about Michael and Claire.  To sum it up, Michael came downstairs in what he deemed to be the Coolest Outfit ever.  Claire soon followed his lead which meant I had two of the coolest looking kids around in my front room!

Fast forward five years.  New house, bigger kids, same awesome suede vest.  I vowed in the earlier post that I was going to give it to Goodwill the moment it got too big for Michael, but it was just TOO COOL!  Well, today- the vest made it's way back into cooldome when Matthew came into the kitchen sporting the fringe.  It was clear that Matthew felt pretty awesome.  I started laughing at the sight of him and the vest.  I had forgotten we had it!  I immediately thought of the above picture and was amazed at how history repeats itself.

Not to be outdone, Emily soon sported the infamous vest.  Man, now I can't get rid of it.  The suede fringed vest is just too prevalent in the Swendsen Family history books.

It's Raining!!

We have had a very mild winter this year.  The rain has been sporadic at best and we have been spoiled rotten with warmth and bright cheery sunlight!  We do need the rain, though so we were excited for a little change in climate this week.  Emily has discovered quite a few new toys as a result of me gutting and cleaning out Claire's closet.  One of her new favorites is this Tinkerbell umbrella.  I kid you not, my little Emmy has been standing in the sunshine with her umbrella waiting for rain. 

I had told Emily that it might rain today and she couldn't believe it.  She kept her umbrella within arms reach in anticipation.   This afternoon, I was in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher (glamorous, I know) when I heard Emily screaming, 'It's raining!  It's raining!'  I walked out to the backyard to see my beautiful little Emmy standing in the middle of the grass, chubby hand holding her beloved Tinkerbell umbrella, curly hair bouncing as she giggled, with the look of pure joy spread across her face.  The look was priceless.  Especially her choice of rain appropriate shoes.  I don't think I have ever seen someone opt for white patten leather dress shoes over rain boots (even on the wrong feet).  Just sayin'. 

Emily wanted to find something to do in the rain so she talked Matthew into making cards for Sheila so they could have an excuse to go on an errand and get wet!  What a smart girl!  Daddy took them over to see Sam and Sheila and when Emily and Matthew returned- they were a little soggy but a whole lot happy! 

St. Joseph's Day Party 2012

For the first time in eleven years, Damien and I went up to Kirkland and visited with my family without the kids!  It felt strange to be there without them, but it was a wonderful break for us- one that we needed.  We are flying up here again in ten days to spend a week with my family for Easter/spring break.  That's why we chose not to bring the whole family up for St. Joseph's Day.  The kids were a bit upset- but we explained that it would be so much money to fly everyone up twice in two weeks!  Twelve round trips in ten days?  I think not.

We flew in late Friday night and enjoyed some time with my family.  We have more fun, more interesting conversation, more hysterical laughter in my parents' family room than you can imagine.  On Saturday morning, we headed up to the Holy Family Parish Hall to help with the remainder of the setup.  It was really too bad we couldn't have gotten there earlier on Friday to help roll in the tables, put out the chairs, hang the lights, hang the flags, and do all the heavy lifting.  We really missed out (insert sarcasm here). 

Saturday morning consisted of putting the place settings at each table, making sure chair counts at the tables are correct, and putting any last minute touches on the room.  We finished just before lunch and decided to grab some Thai food in between finishing set up and coming back to rehearse the skit.  It was after all, Jake's (Jill's husband) birthday so we needed to celebrate! 

At skit rehearsal, we were all anxious to see how the first run through went!  A few weeks ago- Gina and I were given the daunting task of writing the skit.  Every year, after dinner- there is a skit.  It is generally two things:  hilarious and always better than the year before.  Problem with skits always being so good?  It makes it harder to write something the following year.  We put it off for weeks but finally one night Gina drove down from San Francisco, we put the kids to bed, locked ourselves in a room, and vowed not to come out until we had a skit.

I came up with the idea of having the skit themed around The Family Feud.  The skit every year involves Cicci Vesuvio (my Dad's Italian alter ego) and usually focuses around Cicci's restaurant.  This year, Cicci was in danger of losing his restaurant.  Unless he could come up with $25,000 by the next day, the restaurant would be gone forever.  Cicci does what any self respecting Italian would do.  He grabbed the raviolis and bread sticks from the fridge, trimmed his eyebrows, threw his family in the car and headed south to Burbank, California to . . .

To start the skit, part of the above paragraph was read to all 360 people in attendance to St. Joseph's Day from one of the 'chefs' at Cicci's restaurant.  He said, "To what?  That's all he wrote?  What's he going to do?"  And then it happened.  I will seriously never not laugh when I think of this.  Damien, who we pegged to be the host of Family Feud, pops up with a microphone and shouts, "To Play The Feud!"  People were going crazy and started that clap that the audience does at the show.  Theme song blasting.  Both my family (The Vesuvios) and our opponents (The Gubars, pronounced goobers) paraded down and took our places.  Damien was ridiculously funny as he recited his lines with the occasional ad lib. 

My brother-in-law, Jake, was able to design a PowerPoint (which we projected) to totally simulate the game.  It included the X sounds and the dings when someone got it right!  Basically, the game went something like this.  The Vesuvios are a little stupid and our answers were ridiculously Italian.  Think Jersey Shore smarts.  We lost the first and second round.  In the third round, all points were worth triple so if we won that one, we won the game and could play for the $25,000 Fast Money!  At this point, the game took a 180 degree turn.  Damien read, "We surveyed 100 people from Poughkeepise, New York . . ." and everyone in the audience knew that these were all going to be answers that were slanted towards Italians.  "Name something that you would bring to a picnic?"  Natalie rings in, "A Pool Boy.  Someone's gotta rub lotion into my back!"  Sure enough- pool boy was there.  And this went on until there was just one answer left.  It was Laura's turn.  Damien says to Laura, "Name something that you would bring to a picnic."  Laura says, "More Vino."  Damien: "Laura, vino has already been said."  Laura: "I know, it's MORE Vino."  And as you could imagine, the answer was there and we won the game!

Here's how Fast Money with Cicci and Damien went:

Damien:  "We surveyed 100 people in Sicily.  Top answers are on the board."
Name something that you wouldn't use if it was dirty.
Cicci:  Toilet Paper
Damien:  Name something you might find in your Mother's purse.
Cicci:  Olive Oil
Damien:  Name something you might find in a bed.
Cicci:  A horse's head.
Damien:  Name something you would NOT take on your honeymoon.
Cicci:  My wife.
Damien:  Name an appropriate age a son/daughter might move out of their parent's house.
Cicci:  37

And as you can imagine, the Vesuvios hit it big and won the $25,000 and saved the restaurant.  For one half hour, yes it took thirty minutes to do the skit, people were howling!  So many compliments after the skit was over about how funny it was.  It was unanimous that Damien missed his calling and should have been in show biz.  People absolutely loved it and that is exactly what we wanted to hear!

All in all- between the good music played by my Mom's Jazz group, or the mandolin players, the amazing food, the fundraiser to fill the library at our sister parish in Malawi with books, congratulating everyone for their efforts this past December when we were able to build them a well so they can have clean water, and in between the laughter that this ridiculous skit provided- we all had a blast. 

I know my kids missed coming to the party this year, but I must say I enjoyed it to no end.  I could really just live in the moment and experience the night without worrying where my kids were all the time.  I could mingle with the many friends and family we have that were in attendance who I don't see nearly enough.  St. Joseph's Day this year was amazing and reminded me once again that together- we can do great things.  Just by eating amazing food, laughing the whole night long, and coming together as a BIG family, we changed the lives of so many people in Malawi, Africa.  How truly amazing is that?

Wednesday Night Fever!

Tonight was a mother/child event at St. Christophers.  For the past few years- they have done a movie night in the gym for the moms and kids.  After realizing it doesn't quite get dark enough to see the screen, they decided to change things up a bit!  This year, we had a dance party.  Wednesday Night Fever!  There was a deejay, the Presentation High School hip hop team (they were AWESOME), good food, tons of decorations, and plenty of kids and Moms to fill the entire gym!  Most of the kids told their Moms to stay clear of the dance floor, but my kids pulled me up all night long to dance and groove to the beat!  Don't worry- I didn't pull out my best moves.  I made sure that I didn't do anything to embarrass the kids!  Well, except for the time I dove on the ground and did the centipede.  Just kidding.  They had a dance off by class and it was cute to see all the kids up there busting out their best moves to win a $5 gift card to Powell's Candy Shoppe.  Claire class won which was thrilling for her!  It was interesting to learn that my kids definitely have a dance style.  Claire loves to whip her hair.  And whip she did!  She did ask permission first, which I thought was cute.  Michael loves to pull out some break dancing moves and does a pretty darn good job at them!  We did the macarena and the chicken dance which provided quite a few laughs!  I loved spending time with my big kiddos.  We made many fun memories that I will treasure always.  Now excuse me as I go bust a move!

Michael Celebrates St. Joseph's Day!

We celebrated with Michael a day late this year since we were in Tahoe on his actual Saint Day.  Michael was totally fine with pushing it back a day.  Who wouldn't be fine with playing in the snow one day, and then celebrating with ice cream cake the next!  My Dad got Michael and awesome Lionel Messi soccer jersey and shorts!  Michael about died when he unwrapped them!  He also got a book about Messi's rise to soccer stardom which I am sure he will devour shortly!  In terms of his choice of dessert, he wanted an ice cream cake from Baskin and Robbins that had chocolate icicles on it.  It's his day and his choice of dessert!  Thanks to the iPhone with its FaceTime feature, Grandpa was able be with Michael as he opened his gifts and blew out his candle.  Thanks Grandpa for thinking of Michael, once again! 

Dad and Matthew Watch the Warriors!

Originally, Damien was supposed to take a few of his clients to a Warriors game.  Last minute- he gets a call letting him know that it was now only going to be one client and his six year old son!  We had just rolled in from Tahoe when Damien asked what I thought him taking Matthew to the game.  I said, Go for it!  Sure, he was going to be exhausted but Matthew didn't have school the next morning.  Once Matthew knew where he was going, he was practically bouncing off the walls!  He started bouncing even higher when we realized that just he and Daddy were going.  No other kids!  He truly felt special and important.

Damien said the game was awesome.  Matthew loved watching the basketball but apparently not as much as he loved eating all the yummy stadium food and not having to share with his siblings!  Chris Mullen's jersey was retired at half time which made the game even more special.  Not that Matthew really knew what was going on- but at least as he gets older he will know he was there!

Damien and I try hard to steal these special one-on-one moments with the kids.  Matthew deserved this special trip with his Daddy and he loved that Dad's attention was only on him.  Go Warriors!

Skiing, Snowballing, and TAHOE

We left right after Marlene's birthday and said a small prayer that the traffic Gods would be with us on our drive to Tahoe!  There was a huge storm coming in which meant SNOW for us in Tahoe, we just hoped that it didn't turn the beautiful ride through the mountains into a miserable one!  Seriously, when we were leaving San Francisco, it was hailing so hard (being from Kirkland and having experienced my fair share of hail, I promise that this was legit)!  So, it's hailing so hard that there is no visibility and what does Damien do?  He opens the sun roof so the kids would feel the hail.  Fifteen seconds of hailing fun, screaming, squealing = a completely wet interior to the car, not to mention the fact that most of the water pooled on my seat which meant I was soaked.  Lovely.

The drive was amazing.  Kids napped, traffic was calm, and it was snowing enough to look beautiful without making the roads too dangerous!  Jocelyn had ordered pizza on the ride up so just a few minutes after arriving to the cabin, so did our pizza.  Genius!  Of course the kids wanted to go play in the snow even though it was dark out.  We got them all suited up and off they went!  They had the greatest time out there!  Soon, the kids were in bed and resting peacefully.

Bright and early in the morning, Mark and Damien took Michael and Claire to try skiing for the first time!  Mark told Damien about this great plan where you go to the Ritz Carlton, valet your car, and then basically just walk out to the slopes!  No parking in lots that are a huge walk to the slopes, instead- they warm your ski boots, lay out your skis, and allow you to get a warm cup of hot chocolate before you brave the elements! 

Apparently, the kids did great!  How awesome is that?  Damien said that Mark was amazing with them.  They both mastered the pizza and were skiing in no time!  They loved the chair lifts and were smiling ear to ear!  They took some videos and I had to laugh because they both skied just as I thought they would. 

Michael would be doing great- going from side to side and turning, then would point his skis downhill and go as fast as he could until he wiped out.  Claire, as expected- was more methodical and played it safe.  Claire totally is like that!  She likes to try things out, master it with an approach of confidence and security and then the next time, go crazy!  I absolutely loved seeing the videos and loved that they can't wait to go skiing again!

Jocelyn and I stayed back with the little kiddos and played in the snow.  We built sled paths in the huge pile of snow that the snow plow leaves.  The kids thought it was so much fun- and it was!  I got the best video of Matthew and Emily.  I was videoing Matthew who was playing with an ice saber (a long icicle that looked like a light saber) when Emily came along and hit his ice saber with hers.  Naturally, his broke.  He turns to her and says, "Thanks a lot Emily!" in an angry voice.  She thinks about what he said and says, "You're welcome."    He got so mad and was telling me about it when she kind of hit him on the shoulder.  He hit her back.  This exchange happened about two more times until she threw snow in his face. 

Matthew then grabbed a handful of snow and took off running after her.  They were both in snow suits and watching Emily try to run reminded me of that scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie's brother can't put his arms down.  Anyway, Matthew caught up to her and threw the snow in her face and then . . . shoved her so hard that she fell forward onto her belly, fully covering her face and head in snow.  Emily's frozen face started crying, Matthew looked at me trying to figure out if he was in trouble, and I did what any good mother would do- I kept filming.  It is a classic video that I will treasure for years to come!

For the remainder of the day, we just played in the snow, played board games, and relaxed.  It was amazing.  We woke up the following morning and started the clean up process.  We needed to get home by 4:00 p.m. because Damien had to take some clients out to the Golden State Warriors basketball game that evening.  The clean up went well, the kids played some more in the snow, and we made it home without any issues with kids or traffic.  That's a giant WIN for us!  The kids were sad to be home.  They love the snow and certainly loved being trapped in a cabin in the woods with their cousins.  We can't wait to do it again!!