40. Oh, well.

Lunch with Michael

Dinner with the boys

Theron's favorite drink - a Shirley Temple with extra cherries

Blythe joined us for cocktails (new dress by RJC)

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Flip (Sunday) and Grandma Mary (today Monday)!

Grandma, We're sorry we keep missing you by phone!

Congratulations, Michael and Erik for 20 years. We went to their home Saturday for a celebration. Theron made lots of new friends, especially the pretty little girl who played chase with him. Look at these beautiful little faces.

Sunday Theron got to have yet another exciting excursion with Alan. We all went to Shrek the Third!

Ashley teaches his packing class for the Getty/UCLA Conservation students tomorrow and then the household can return to what passes for normal. He'll be great!

Back from Chicago

Ash is staying one extra day. We had a great time - saw a lot of old friends, got some good information, but we really missed the boy. Our hotel room was conveniently located to many things - 2 blocks away from the Art Institute, but other conveniences, not so much. We had to stand in the closet to get a cell phone signal (it was $1.25 just to pick up the phone, even for a collect call), and we were never able to get internet service. The hotel said they offered it for $7.50 a day, but only from the lobby. It was nice to be in a city, but we didn't feel like we loved it terribly. Anyway, above is me at the Field Museum. Terri and I spent an afternoon walking our legs off. The next day Ash and I got a behind the scenes tour of the conservation labs at the Art Institute by a friend of my boss's.
Theron and I got back from Bakersfield this afternoon and had Mike and Erik over for pizza. We miss Daddy. Get home safe.

Spiderman battles his foe, America's Next Top Mature Male Model.

All the Spideys are sad Natasha didn't win Model.

Most weekends we would be lounging around the house at 9 am looking for food, but yesterday we were at the Grove for the first showing of the day of Spiderman 3. Luckily we went early and got good seats because the theater was pretty much full for the 9:30 a.m. show. We were not disappointed. The critics can say what they will - we thought it was super fun and worth the wait! Theron thought the funniest part of the movie was when you see Spiderman's feet as he dumps out his boots after fighting Sandman. And because we're suckers, the next stop was Target to get Black Spiderman clothing. Theron's friend at school was wearing a t-shirt and pants Friday that he told him were purchased at Target and he even gave him directions, "you go in the store, turn right, and go to aisle 6". I could not find these clothes. However, we did find him a new suit (is this the 3rd one now?) that is reversible - normal Spiderman and black Spiderman. While an inside-out sock brings the morning goals of getting out of the house on time to a screeching halt, he had that suit entirely turned around to black and under his street clothes in record time. He tried to go out of the house like this today and I had to send him back in because it was going to be 80 degrees.

We all went to Griffith Park today to meet his friend Alan for pony and train rides. They had a blast and I kind of couldn't believe it because Theron doesn't even like to sit in those machines outside of groceries stores shaped like rockets, etc., if they're moving. Their favorite part of the whole event was when the horses they were on peed.

A Spidey Weekend

Well, Theron is completely out of his mind with excitement over the opening of Spiderman 3. I was hoping we could trick him into waiting a week for the crowds to die down a bit, but he's smarter than that. He even thought none of his friends would be at school today because they would be at the theater. So, anyway, we are going tomorrow morning for a 9:30 show at the Grove. Then, as if that weren't excitement enough we are meeting his little friend Alan at Griffith Park Sunday morning to ride the ponies and the train.

Tonight we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary at Fred 62, a diner in Los Feliz. Kids get a menu coloring book and the three of us worked on it while waiting for the food.

Here's Theron at the library. We like to walk over on Saturdays, it's only 4 blocks away. Recently we checked out The Secret Garden and we're halfway through it now.
Where did the weekend go???

Last night I had magaritas with my friend, Mike, like a real human being. We ate some good appetizers and discussed how we both love Natasha on America's Next Top Model. I can't believe I didn't take our picture but I did snap this picture of a mural during my 40 minute-should have been 10 minute - ride home. The one chicken says "I'm hungry" and the other one one says, "Let's get falafel".

Mike and Erik will be celebrating their 20th anniversary next month! Mike and I (and Joan and Beth) will be celebrating a 40th birthday soon and we talked about that. Actually, a lot of people have been asking me about it and what plans I have. Well, I don't really. It seems like it should be big, but I don't know. When I do think about it I do my face exercises, which means these days I do them everyday. Probably I've been ready for this for a while. I have a bathing suit with a little skirt and everytime I'm in the drugstore I examine the home dermabrasion kits.

This is my contribution for our friend April's baby quilt. Everyone gets a little pack of the fabrics and creates something. There was no theme and I've been wanting to do something 3-D. I wanted the bud to fold up and down for something fun to do.

Ashley went to the doctor finally for his ear infection and found it was worse than he thought - the infection is so advanced he has possibly been sick for a very long time and between that and his wisdom teeth there may be some explanation for why he's been so down for so long. The doctor gave him a potent antibiotic that is guaranteed to kill everything from the neck up.

Haircut Day!

CSI Echo Park

Theron and I found this nest and two broken eggs on the porch this morning. Then Theron and I had a cyclical discussion about eggs, babies, where are the babies, what about the eggs, and on and on.

Theron says, "I look so cute".

It was wonderful and relaxing

We all read a lot

Back to real life, but we had fun...
Thank you to Joan and her family for the gift of their home

San Luis ObispoLunch by the creek Ashley takes our picture

Vacation, all we ever wanted...

We are comfortably settled down at the vacation house, otherwise known as Joan and John's home. This vacation was of course planned for the week after my allergy testing that showed I have a 50% chance of being allergic to the following items: eggs, pork, fish, shellfish. To confirm this I am to elimate all four things for 2 weeks and then begin adding them back in and watching for reaction. This will take place next week. Tonight we ate the biggest crab legs we ever imagined possible and we will definitely be eating mussels and the most delicious clam chowder anywhere.
In spite of the biting wind, Theron insisted on getting in the ocean. He's shown here in his new wetsuit. He was doing fine and then he suddenly took a tumble. Ashley rushed in to save him. Theron was fine, he just had sand all over him and in his mouth. Ashley's shoes were soaked, he lost a sock, and his cell phone might be dead. Oh, well. Those things can be fixed.

We feel very good and happy. We're just sad we couldn't coordinate to visit with Joan and her family on either side of our trips.

Last weekend, decorating Easter eggs.

America's Next Top Model

Theron says his supermodel name is "Joe". Mine is "Mama". Theron says Ashley's is "Toast".

Disaster Week

I don't really want to go into detail, but this last week was definitely a good one for hiding in bed. One bad thing that happened was that the winds knocked out our internet and I spent the rest of the week trying to figure out how in the world I ever got our router to work. I'm still not entirely clear but yesterday we were back up. ! So, back to Theron's world -

Since the last week was a blur all I can really comment on was our very nice weekend, walking around Chinatown and washing our cars. Some little boy in Chinatown grabbed Theron's hand and said "Let's play!" and they had a happy little encounter. How nice to make friends so easily. I appreciate so much the friends I have now, as they get harder to come by once you're out of school.

Theron was a big help with the cars, scrubbing tires and spraying with the hose. He said it was a very important thing for a little boy to do.

Oh, last weekend we saw Grandpa Flip and Grandma Rita and Theron finally got to see the REAL TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES! As Theron would say, it was gweat. Theron got in a lot of "fighting" with Grandpa and there were only minor injuries all around. I can't believe we didn't take any pictures, but maybe I do believe it because Ashley leaving his spongebag at the hotel was the beginning of the bad week.

Anyway, how did it get to be April???

This is Theron choosing to read before school one day, instead of watching cartoons.

Picture Day

Yesterday the kids had cap and gown pictures taken. To avoid what happened last picture day when Theron's beautiful hairdo came unstuck before documentation, I got a few shots of him on the way into the school. Handsome! Theron loves his new clothes - he calls them his costume. He tried them on the night before and ran into the bathroom to strike a few poses.

Downtown Adventure

We're not such a hoity toity family. Our highlight of the weekend will undoubtedly be our trip to Clifton's Cafeteria downtown. An institution since 1931, seats 600, decorated like a redwood forest complete with a waterfall. Theron liked the orange drink, which he says gives you a "happily face". He was so happy he broke into a spontaneous modern dance to the Theme from the Odd Couple. The beans were extra beany and the jello extra fruity. I even enjoyed the carrot raisin salad that as a kid I thought was one of the most inedible dishes on earth (The MOST inedible was my babysitter's peanut butter and Miracle Whip sandwiches which even their dog wouldn't eat. It was worth going hungry to throw them over the fence into the canyon). Anyway, a good time was had by all. We threw coins in the waterfall and made wishes for more fun ahead.

The day we've been waiting for finally arrived, with a big bonus. On our way to the ampitheater to see the Wiggles, who should we run into but Wolverine, Spiderman and the Goblin! As if it wasn't exciting enough just that Alan was able to join us! The Wolverine shakes their hands.
The boys try to get Spidey's attention. Theron is making Alan touch him first.
Spidey checks out their web shooters.
In case some of you are wondering, these are the Wiggles with their friends, Henry the Octopus, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Captain Feathersword, and Wags the Dog. It was an exciting show, we had great seats, and the boys danced their butts off. The red Wiggle (Murray? I can't remember) came out into the audience and walked right past us (Theron and I were on the aisle). Theron said , "It was a great thing". Near the end of the show they sang Twinkle Twinke and they turned down the lights and told the mommies and daddies to hold up their cell phones as stars which gave me the opportunity to see that we'd been there an hour, so there was hope it would be winding down soon. The boys were mostly good but as the show went on it was getting harder and harder to keep them from wrestling and karate chopping each other. Oh, speaking of which Chuck Norris was in the audience and the Wiggles sang Happy Birthday to him. Then on our way out we ended up behind the theater at the same time he and his family were coming out so we could have touched him, too.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Alan and Theron started crying - I deleted those pictures because he hates to see himself sad. I managed to get him to try a smile. Look, they both wore their Batman shirts today.

Today the restaurant continued to run. Here's the menu: While I was cleaning the kitchen today Theron came to ask if he could help. He said they sing a song in Dora's Super Silly Fiesta about helping your parents. So he got some spray and paper towels and he got to wipe everything in the kitchen lower than 4 feet high.

In case you haven't been around Theron in the last day you probably don't know that THE REAL TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ARE GOING TO BE IN THEATERS MARCH 23RD! That's MARCH 23RD! The REAL ones, with EYES and everything!

Today we all three went to the library. I was hoping to get Theron on one of the kid computers where he could play some games and I could do some reading, but we had to use a grown-up computer and I had a hard time finding easy games he could play on the web. We finally found something but I didn't really get anything done since I had to keep getting up to find out why his force field had failed. After the library we went to look at the school he will be going to next year. We told him where we were going and he said, "Yeah, baby!"

Theron built himself a pillow town, complete with a pool that was at first too cold, so he warmed it with his heat vision. Then it was too hot so he cooled it with his ice breath. After that he built a restaurant, seen below. Theron says this restaurant serves apples, bananas, and carrots. He said, "Chef Theron here, can I take your order?" He told us that all the food at this restaurant comes with a glass of milk. He also says there's a different place inside it with games and costumes. Oh yes and he says he has a lot of cheese, and hot water, and corn at the restaurant. He's reading this right now and telling me what to add.

This is the sign for the restaurant. Daddy says he knows it's a good place because it has a happy face.