Living in Munchkinland

For the last four months or so, I have been working on a fundraiser for the kids' school. I love, love, LOVE our montessori school and I really want to support it. The fundraiser would raise money for the scholarship fund and I really wanted to make it a success. I've been on the fundraising committee for three years and this year I was co-chair. We decided to throw a wine and food and silent auction party at my parents's house, Casa Pacifica. We called it "Sparkle Through the Night". I was the event planner for the party and my co-chair Elizabeth coordinated the silent auction. Several women on our committee were rock stars and we all worked and begged and donated and worked some more. We worked together in the trenches and I think we will all be good friends after all of this because of it. The big night finally arrived and I think we created a really lovely event. The auction was bountiful and gorgeous, the kids had created artwork that some parents ha...

We drove up to north Austin today to help Michael's old friend from his single days celebrate his son's 1st birthday. It was a gorgeous day today with temps in the upper 70's, a nice breeze and glorious sun. They had a petting zoo and pony rides and we all had a great time with the animals. We also enjoyed spending time with old friends we rarely get to see anymore. After the party we drove through Austin and visited some of our old haunts. We finally decided to have a very late lunch at Opal Divines. We called another of our long-time friends Fabian, who is also the boys' godfather and invited him and his partner out to lunch with us. They met us there and we had a fabulous time on the patio. Good times.

A couple of weeks ago, Davis' long-time friend Violet had a birthday party. Violet's mom, Cheris called me and asked if Davis would like to come. Apparently, Violet was allowed to invite six friends and they were all girls except for Davis. And the theme was fairies. So would Davis like to go to an all girl fairy party for Violet? You bet he would! He was thrilled and swore none of it mattered except for getting to spend the day with his girl. The party was really fun. Sam and Violet's little brother added to the boy contingent and they all had a blast. The kids decorated their own fairy wings (Davis put flames on his), played "hunt the fairy" and "fairy, fairy, troll" and thoroughly enjoyed whacking a pinata. It was good times. We ALL (kids included) have great friends.

Last night Michael and I went out a day early to celebrate Valentine's. We went to the first anniversary of Darkside Fermentation at the Root Cellar Restaurant. It was awesome. We shared this date night with our fabulous friends Stacey and Chris and had so much fun. I took a magic pill that is supposed to allow you to eat things you are allergic to and then I drank beer! We tasted five different kinds of beers, ate a yummy bison burger and caught a bit of the great music they had there. So. fun. Get thee to the Root Cellar and try the beers! Of course, when we got home we found our new sitter at her wit's end with our devious children and our extremely stinky dogs who had apparently, been skunked again. Oh well, can't have things too perfect around here.

This morning, while watching the Disney channel, and seemingly out of the blue, Davis tells me: Mom, I think I know how Benjamin Franklin ended slavery. I think he invented electricity and that made change go up and down, but mostly up and that made slaves able to vote and they voted to end slavery.

While we were in New Orleans, it snowed here in Texas. The kids got a snow day off from school and everything. My parents took the kids out in it and let them play to their hearts content. They had a snow ball fight and slid through the snow and hiked down to the river. They also had lots of hot chocolate.

I have been enjoying book group with my friends every month, but Michael doesn't get to hang with his guy friends nearly as much. They all chatted and decided to start a daddy band. Last night they all gathered at my parents' guest house (the hippie house) and rocked out. Michael said they had a great time and are preparing for their first gig which will be at Davis' 6th birthday party. I'm looking forward to it. P.S. Can I just say again how much we love our group of friends and think they are awesome?

My thumb hurts and makes typing difficult so I'll be making this post and the next few short on commentary and high on photos. The kids participated in our Unitarian church service today. They ran the service from beginning to end. They were cute. Michael and I led the singing. After church we all enjoyed a stone soup.

I broke my thumb today. It is fractured through the knuckle. I was parking my dad's car in the Guero's parking lot in Austin. I locked the car, tossed the keys in my purse and then went to close the corvette door. The wind gusted and the door slammed shut on the top knuckle of my right hand. I screamed for my dad to help, but it took a while for him to find the keys. In the meantime, I sprained my hand trying to yank it out. After my hand was released, I dramatically fell to the ground. Some man in the parking lot and my dad helped me into the restaurant where I asked for a table for three, almost threw up and then passed out. They set me at the closest table, gave me a glass of ice water, and some ice for my hand. I laid my head on the table and somehow managed to get my phone dialed for my dad's assistant, Denise who was supposed to meet us there. She showed up a few minutes later and helped calm us all down. We ate lunch and I came out of shock. After an hour I dr...

We had a whirlwind vacation over the last few days. We flew out at the crack of dawn on Thursday and returned late Saturday evening. We went to New Orleans without the children and though the weather was never over 40 degrees and it rained almost the entire time, we still managed to rock New Orleans. We had a plan and adapted when necessary. We found great bars and food and music, laughed a lot and generally had an amazing time. It was a bonding trip with great friends. We had no fights, lots of interesting conversation and many wonderful memories made. Here's what we did: Thurs: Arrive 9:20AM Go to Coulis on Magazine (formerly the Bluebird) Walk up Magazine and peek at shops till we get to Whole Foods Stock up on food and head home Have celebratory drink Nap Trolley to Quarter, walk down Bourbon till we get to Frenchman Street See Miss Sophie Lee at the Spotted Cat at 6PM Eat at the Praline Connection. http://www.pralineconnection.com/ Take taxi home at end of night Friday...