Photo Journal

In my last post I had a lot to say. This time I'm leaving most of it to pictures...

Madeleine in braids. She wanted to be like her "dolly".

We've done a lot of visiting these past few weeks. Here's our kids with friends Max and Aiden watching a movie.

Here are Madeleine and Aiden painting...this time at their house. I can't take credit for this pic, since I took it from Margaret's blog. Thanks Margaret!


Madeleine's friend Havah came over to swim in our little whale pool, take a bubble bath and hang out on the pink bean bag chair together.


More visiting...here is Madeleine and cousin Dayla. The 2nd pic in this post I swiped from another blog. Thanks Ginette and Daniel!


We saw Dayla at Nana and Grandpa's house. Here they are with little M. I actually took this one.


And then my Dad and Chris came over from Hawaii. While they were here our family celebrated my Aunt Lorraine's 90th birthday at the St. Francis Yacht Club. You go girl! This one and the next I took from my cousin's Shutterfly slide show. Shameless! That's why they are so small and I'm really skinny.Matthew got a new bike from GAD and the rest of the Magner Clan as an early birthday present. Here he is on his 1st ride. He likes to make skids.


We've also been to museums lately and the kids have gravitated toward things to do with flight. We went to the Chabot Space and Science Center with their Grandma D. and to the Hillel Aviation Museum with their Popo and Tutu.

Open for Business

Matthew had a great idea. Instead of having a lemonade stand, he wanted to sell french fries. I thought it would be a lot more work to cook and keep hot, but it was his idea and it was original.

He thought of it last Fall. Marc and Matthew built the stand and it sat in our garage until now. There was renewed interest in it this month, since we started teaching him to use his own money to buy toys.

He used his life savings (all the dollar bills in his cards over the years, etc) to buy his pirate ship. The pirate ship was a big purchase, after he went to buy it we informed him that he had enough for the ship but not the tax. Right away he wanted to know all about tax...what it was and why he had to pay it. He did a bunch of chores at home and earned enough for the whole thing.

While he was at the store buying the ship, he made sure to make note of the next thing he wanted. The Toy Story character, Woody. Why did they name a toy Woody? Now kids run around excitedly saying "I have a Woody". Anyhow, back to Matthew. Lucky for him Grandma knew about his venture into purchasing and gave him money at graduation. Still, he had to do more chores to have enough. So, back to work taking out the garbage and watering the plants. He was focused on the goal and he completed.

Realizing the potential of having control of his future toy acquisitions, it seemed that the sky was the limit. Whenever I go to the store, he wants to peruse the toy aisles searching for his next move. Knowing that he has very little left in the bank and that money from chores adds up very slowly, he quickly turned his attention back to his idea of a french fry stand. He opened for business this week and hired his sister as his assistant. Here is his 1st customer, our neighbor Cybele. He cleaned up with her. She bought 1 cup and then came back for another for her sister. Plus, she brought grapes for the workers to snack on during their busy day.

We all had a lot of fun with it. He definitely has a flair for business. He was having trouble flagging down the cars to get customers, so he thought about how he could get them to stop. His idea was to take the masking tape we had behind the counter and roll it out to the street. When the cars touched the tape it would pop their tires. Once stopped, they would look over and say "oh look, a french fry stand". Thus leading to increased traffic and sales. Once one car stopped there would be more behind it.

We've had all sorts of conversations about supply/demand, marketing and the like. At first he wanted to set the price at "all the money in your wallet". I couldn't change his mind so I let it play out. After the first customer, he realized that it didn't work very well and decided to charge 50 cents per cup of fries instead. The next day he wanted to raise the price. I explained that he could only do that if he had lots of customers. Otherwise, if traffic was slow, he'd have to lower it.

He got the concept right away. Later we were talking about how high gas prices are right now. He said to me that we should write a letter to all our aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas and tell them to only have one person at each gas station. He said, "that way the price will go down and down and down until it will be free". I like his idea! Who told him about chain/grass roots email? I held back on explaining subsidies, flat production and Israeli threats on Iran.

Recycled

Madeleine is learning all kinds of things lately. Aside from letters and numbers, we're finally saying bye bye to bottles, pacifiers and diapers! We didn't mean to do it all at once, it just sorta happened. We really meant to do it a long time ago. Things were just too busy this time around.

The diapers don't go away all at once like bottles and pacifiers do, but we're ready for the Diaper Champ to make it's exit. I put it in our recycling can and it fit. I figured, it's all plastic. The exciting part is that they actually took it!!!

It's strange to say good-bye to all these things. We're really done with babyhood. On to the next stage!

Amazing Products: Ped Egg Rocks

Here is another Amazing Product brought to you from The Garden.

Amazing Products have been, well, amazing people all over The Garden. We now have entries from people viewing and enjoying The Garden. This one comes from GAD (Great Aunt Diane). She went all the way to the As Seen On TV store in Hawaii to find this gem. Thankfully, you can now find it at your local Walgreens, Target, BB&B, etc...that's how amazing it really is.

In fact, a little tour of youtube.com reveals amazing results from news channels around the country, as well as countless citizen journalists. The verdict is in and GAD was right...the Ped Egg Rocks!!!

I have one of my own and it's truly worth every cent of the $9.99 you pay for it. In fact, you should get one now before prices jump based on demand!

After having kids, my baby soft feet turned into a callused nuisance. A day after a pedicure, my feet were right back to snagging carpets. At one time, I might have been embarrassed to divulge these kinds of details about my feet. But, after years of grumbling, I realized that there is an epidemic of carpet snaggers. Ped Egg is capitalizing on this huge opportunity. My feet are now as soft as Madeleine's. Thank GAD!

The Week in Review

It's been a busy month, with the last week or so being especially intense. I should start a graduation store. I now have lots of product...a DVD movie of the school year, a CD of music from the school, and a 40 page yearbook that any classy scrap book store could use as a sample in their classes (seriously, I spent at least 60 hours on that thing).

Not only is this all finished, but I've handed over my position at the school to the new VP. It was a huge weight off my shoulders to hand over everything. Plus, all the calls are forwarded to the new VP, so my phone isn't ringing off the hook anymore with desperate parents looking for a coveted Bay Area preschool spot.

On top of everything, American Idol is over. I'm having serious withdrawals, but the good news is I can recover about 3 hours of evening productivity each week.

So, to catch up, here is the week in review...or at least some highlights with a few shots I found time to take. Unfortunately, I don't have pics of the birthday brunch for my friend Margaret or our trip to Angel Island with our church on Memorial Day, both of which were fun.

Okay. Here's two from Mother's Day at Fairyland. I guess that was over a week ago, but what the heck.


Our kids love bubbles. They've figured out the amazing bubble potential of Palmolive Oxy (see previous post). Matthew put "some" soap in the sink and turned on the water full blast in an effort to make an erupting "volcano". The sink shot was taken after washing two tubs of dishes and spending 15 minutes trying to wash out the remaining bubbles.



Madeleine hanging out. Dad and Chris, do you recognize this outfit?


Visiting the store and running into a professional bird trainer. Notice the bird on his shoulder.


Matthew graduates.


Mommy makes a cake and the kids are happy.

Lickers?

Marc made Matthew's lunch the other day and he put something new in it. Matthew liked it so much he requested it the next day. "Dad, would you put lickers in my lunch again?" What the heck are lickers? Are they popsicles? Ice-cream push ups? Can't be...no sugar at school. It's celery sticks with peanut butter, of course (plus the pic gives it away)! He licks the peanut butter off and discards left over celery sticks into the ziploc bag for disposal. If I were writing a book with recipes for kids, I would definitely include lickers and hope that other kids eat the celery. It's just a great name for food.

BTW, the kids liked the Green Eggs and Ham from last week so much that they voted to make that for my MD breakfast in bed. Thank goodness I liked it too!

Will You Eat Them In A Tree?

I have read Green Eggs and Ham at least 100 times. I have read other Dr. Seuss books to the kids 100's of other times. I started reading Dr. Seuss to Matthew when he was about a year old. He took to them right away. I think all the rhyming was soothing to him in some way.

We have many Dr. Seuss books now, including 2 that are collections of many stories, one of which we had early on in our marriage. I think Marc was a fan and I became one. Madeleine likes them, but so far her excitement is a little softer.

Yesterday, for the first time, Marc made Green Eggs and Ham, using nitrite free turkey bacon as a substitute for the ham. They are holding up their plates because this is how it's done in the story. He used spinach to color the eggs green. Keep the spinach on the DL though (Dad, that stands for "down low"). The kids don't know about that part, or they wouldn't eat it with such enthusiasm.

Now they will eat them on a train, and in a car, and in a tree. They are so good, so good, you see! They do so like green eggs and ham! Thank you! Thank you, Daddy-I-am!

Cars and ClayTON

This past weekend we made a stop at Marc's office. I got to hear the amazing mix that Marc did on the theme song of a new driving game AND I got to play it. I'm a long time fan of Pole Position and the reigning Queen of Go Cart racing in my family. We all used to race on Summer visits to the Russian River. The track is long gone, but everyone remembers who used to win, right?...at least I do! :)

This new driving game is fantastic. You can choose cars that exist in real life and customize them. So, when I found myself slipping all over the track, I was able to change the settings so that my car gripped the road and handled the curves much better. There was so much detail in the game...fans taking pictures on the side of the road, etc. My only recommendation was that Marc's office get a steering wheel control. It would make it so much more realistic than the regular controls.

Matthew played a different driving game on another screen. It was more like monster trucks in rugged terrain. I went to visit him and noticed that he was running up against the mountain and suggested he try steering to the right. He didn't change his steering, but he did increase the pressure on the gas. All of a sudden the back lights on the truck started changing colors and sparking and then the whole truck blew up. Matthew started cracking up laughing. Okay, I get the point and it's not the finish line.

Matthew was very sweet when we first arrived at Sony. Marc was setting up the game and Matthew leaned over and said, "Dad, you don't have to do this. I don't want to get you guys in trouble." Marc replied, "that's what we do at my work, play games. It's okay." Matthew always thought his Dad was cool, but now the bar has been raised.

After Sony we visited with family over pizza. The kids had a blast playing with their cousin Clayton. Madeleine always emphasizes the end of his name...I miss ClayTON, I play with ClayTON, pizza with ClayTON. He really is a TON of fun!!!


It was a beautiful evening in San Carlos. I especially enjoyed sitting out front on the lawn and eating yummy cheese and walnut pizza with an adult beverage, while the kids romped around with each other and the adults laughed and enjoyed the moment.

They have a couple very nice trees out front. I don't know tree varieties very well, but I'd say these are of the variety called HUGE. The perfect type of climbing tree for a child (with a boost from a parent) and the perfect calming and shade tree for adults.

After pizza, it was time for ClayTON to take a bath and get to bed. Before we knew it, all three kids were in the tub. It's going to be fun watching them all grow up together.