Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Quote of the Day



This post falls in the sub-category of Things You Never Imagined You'd Hear Yourself Say.

Elias is obsessed with our kitchen tongs. He loves to cook (and eat!) and spends a lot of time playing with his toy kitchen or trying the "help" Jeff and I with the real deal. But most of all, the boy loves his tongs. He carries them around everywhere, which is how he ended up with them in the bath tub tonight, prompting me to say, "Careful Elias, don't tong your penis!"

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Quote of the Day

This evening, the sixth night of Hanukkah, we lit our menorah and placed it on our dinner table. Sam was sitting right in front of it and remarked dreamily, "Doesn't the shammash (the lighter candle) look like it's holding six babies, with six arms?" My heart lurched a little, like it does every time your child says something sweet or profound. "Yes, it does," I responded, tenderly. "Yeah," he continued, "And it's like all their little heads are on fire." Ahhh, now that's my boy!

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Sweet December

The boys and I shared a lovely day today, beginning with a long play date for Sam, which is always a great start to his day. Patch and I basically follow the "big boys" around and try to get them to clean up a little after themselves. After lunch, Sam, Elias, and I headed over to a Winter Faire (yes, with an "e", though I'm not sure quite why). It was a fund raiser for all the Waldorf schools in the Napa Valley, and turned out to be a wonderful experience for us. There were a number of local vendors selling all sorts of homemade crafts, from beautiful baskets and tie-dyed tees to beaded jewelry and wooden toys. They had a great assortment of activities for kids that we took part in- gingerbread cookie decorating, beeswax candle rolling, potpourri satchel making etc. Most of the booths with stuff for sale were inside, but all the activities were outside under tents, next to a stream and a big, warm fire pit. It was a chilly day in Napa, so the fire was a wonderful addition. We ate fresh popcorn and drank mulled cider and spent all my cash on cute trinkets and cookies!! It was a very fun afternoon.
When we got home, I cooked up a big pot of rentil roup (ie lentil soup) for dinner, while the boys played sort of together with some blocks and trucks. We ate on the early side, then got washed up and in pjs. We bundled up in our hats, scarves, and mittens (really, it IS cold for us Californians!!) and went for a nighttime walk to see all the festive lights and decorations in our neighborhood. The boys LOVE this activity and oohed and aahed continuously. We jumped right into Sammy's warm bed when we got home and read a few holiday books. We've hung our chili pepper lights in Sam's room, so after we finished reading and turned out the reading light, his room was bathed in a warm, reddish glow. We sang (by Patchie's request) the Twelve Days of Christmas, with Sam prompting me..."No, its 10 ladies dancing!" Gus (our cat) jumped up and stretched out on top of me and Sam, adding another layer of warmth to the mix. I think Elias was asleep before we got to the drummers drumming, with Sam following quickly after. It was a very sweet moment for me, lying there with my arms around both of my sleeping boys, the cat purring softly, in the dim, red chili pepper light. Happy Holidays!!

Friday, December 7, 2007

Did you know that...

Sam LOVES shrimp?


And that Elias looks WAY cute in his new high top Chucks?


Friday, November 30, 2007

Tis the season



The Christmas season has officially begun in our house. This evening, as the boys were getting into their pajamas, Sam and I spontaneously made up our own christmas carol- an ode to Patch and his jiggly belly. And yes, as if Patch weren't enough, I do occasionally refer to him as Eli-bear.

Sung to the tune of "Oh, Christmas Tree"

Oh, Eli-bear, oh Eli-bear,
How lovely is your belly
With skin so soft and smooshy too
We love to kiss and tickle you
Oh Eli-bear, oh Eli-bear, how lovely is your belly.

Parental Milestone

Yesterday Jeff and I hit a dubious milestone in the life of a parent- the first trip to the emergency room. Elias, intrepid little soul that he is, climbed up onto his train table and then promptly fell off backwards, smacking his head on a bookshelf on the way down. Jeff was out dropping Sam off at school, and I had a few panicked moments trying to gauge the severity of the wound, while racing around looking for Patch's pacifier, which are never easy to find on a good day! Once Jeff returned we quickly ascertained that a trip to the hospital was in order and off we sped. Less than two hours and three stitches later, we were back at home. Elias was a little trouper and seems to be healing quite nicely.
Unfortunately, the incident has not seemed to curb his passion for climbing...

Saturday, November 24, 2007

High Flying

For my birthday this year, Jeff arranged for us to go on a two hour flight in a little 4 seat propeller plane. It was so cool! We flew north over the whole Napa Valley, then "took a left" over Calistoga and flew out to the ocean. We continued south and then flew right over the Golden Gate Bridge and SF bay. The valley was beautiful, with all the vineyards in their fall colors and flying over the bridge and by SF itself was just amazing.

Here we are with the plane.
The lovely Napa Valley, with Mt. St. Helena in the background.
A newly built winery, masquerading as a medieval castle.

Here comes the city! Check out the cool fog.
Our beautiful city.
Alcatraz.
Nice shot, Jeff!

I'm flying!!! What a great birthday present!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Apple Farm

Right next to Hendy Woods park was this fabulous organic apple farm. It is situated in a sunny little glen, with a river running next to it. They have a great market set up right next to their cider press and fermentation barn (where they make 2 different kinds of vinegar). They had a dozen or so kinds of apples to taste, along with jams, jellys, chutneys, juice, and cider. We went a couple of times during our camping weekend- to samply delicious apples and wander through their orchards.

Elias feeding apples to the little stone pigs.


Sheep!

The beautiful Anderson Valley.
Hey- there I am!!

Camping


We are just back from a really fun weekend in Mendocino. We camped at Hendy Woods park, in a cute, rustic little cabin. The park is situated next to two beautiful redwood groves, one of which is old growth trees. We went on a 3 hour hike through this grove- it was beautiful and awe inspiring. The trees are so tall and majestic. Some were bigger around than our car! The boys had such a fun time- they loved playing in the woods, climbing the trees, and getting dirty!

This "log" was right outside our cabin.

Hiking.

Inside a hollowed out redwood.Sitting on the roots of a huge tree that had come down years ago.

That same tree. Can you see Jeff and Elias all the way down towards the end of the trunk?
Mountain man.
Our cabin.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Loot!!

Dad made sure he was home for the candy part!

Holy Candy Batman!!



Well, we really had a blast on Halloween. The boys were so into the whole thing- decorating our house, carving pumpkins, dressing up, and- oh yeah- getting candy! Of course, Elias didn't really know what was going on, but he didn't let a little thing like that stop him from loving every second of it!

Action shot! Ker-pow!!


Ready to fight crime.
It was so much fun dressing up with the boys this year. We make a great team!









Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Quote of the Day

Happy Halloween! I will be posting pictures from tonight's festivities soon, but I had to put this tidbit up immediately. After we got back from trick-or-treating tonight (a smashing success), the boys dumped out their loot on the living room floor. Sam took one look at the bounty and said,

"There is so much here, I don't know what the heck to have!"

That just pretty much sums this holiday up. Love it!!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Like grandfather, like grandson

Sam and Elias, both enjoying an all time favorite snack of my dad's, peanut butter-on-a-spoon. For those of you who don't know the Schwartz's too well, this is like some sort of snack rite of passage. I don't think cousin Milo is quite ready for nut butters yet, but when he is of age, I'm sure my boys will be ready to indoctrinate him in the ways of spoonage!

















Also of note- how strangely old and surly does Patch look? Is this some kind of flash forward to his teen years or what???

Blast from the past

A brand new feature of the fabulous mosherboys blog-----
Blast from the Past
, today inspired from the earlier Pumpkin Patch Post.

View and enjoy!


































Story of the Day

Hello all. Here is a slight variation of the popular "quote of the day" feature. It is basically the same, but slightly longer. Pay attention and I'm sure you will catch on in no time!

Today Sam's kindergarten class visited the local pumpkin patch. Elias and I, always looking for a good time, tagged along. We played in the maze, climbed the hay bale pyramid, watched the pigs, and- oh yeah- picked out pumpkins. It was a very fun afternoon all around. On the way home, Sam was asking me about pumpkins and if his would still get bigger. I said no, that once a pumpkin was picked it wouldn't grow anymore. He said that he thought that maybe if you put the stem in water it would keep growing. No, I said, that's a good idea, but a pumpkin is one of those things that just doesn't grow anymore once they are picked from their vine and taken out of the earth. Oh, said Sam, so it could die right away and we'll just have to hope for the best? It was at this point in our conversation that I had to stop myself from laughing. I muffled my giggle and told him that pumpkins tend to last for a pretty long time after you pick them, so we shouldn't worry about it. He was quiet for a few moments, digesting this piece of information, and then said,

"So, it's kind of like how people last for a while too after they stop growing?"


Needless to say, I could not muffle my laughter anymore at this point...


Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Quote of the Day


Sam, apropos of nothing, "You know, my hair is actually clear."


He is still remarkably blond...

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Have bike, will travel

After realizing that Sam's new school was only one mile away from our house, I decided that I would try and bike him there as often as possible- the only problem being that I had no bike and no trailer...This was easily rectified though! I found a great used Burley trailer on craigslist and purchased a brand new bike for myself (my first new bike since I got one as a high school graduation present from my parents!). Both boys fit nicely in the trailer and enjoy zipping around town with me. I love being back on a bike, and pulling the two of them, plus the weight of the trailer is great exercise. It also feels very good to be making this environmentally beneficial decision, especially one that I can share with Sam and Elias. Plus, they look very cute in the trailer with their helmets on!



Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Quote of the Day

Here is another classic from our boy Sam:

Yesterday Elias and I were settling onto the couch to read a few books. Sam came in and wanted to join us. "Pick out a couple books and come on up, " I told him. When he handed me his choices I said, "Ok, but we are going to read one of Patch's books first, then yours." And Sam replied, "Oh crap!"


Hmmm, I wonder where he got that??

Friday, September 28, 2007

Some fun pictures

Haven't had much time for blogging lately, but I'm trying to fit it back into my schedule. We are in the process of buying a second car, so all my free internet time goes into researching vehicles. Such fun!

We did have a really great day earlier this week. After Sam got home from school, we jetted down to "the city" as we call it here in the suburbs, and spent the afternoon at the San Francisco zoo. I'm a little conflicted about zoos in general, but this one seems pretty humane and tries to recreate the animal's natural habitats. The boys loved it- Sam's favorites were the lemurs and snow leopards. I'm not sure what Elias liked the best- I think it was probably the yogurt covered raisins we brought as snack! It was a beautiful day in the city, warm and sunny, even way out in the fog belt where the zoo is. Unfortunately, the camera batteries died after exactly two pictures, so we didn't get to record much of the day's fun. Oh well- you'll just have to take my word that a good time was had by all.



Here are a few more fun and recent pictures. Sam in his new hat from his Grannie.


The artist at work (note the tongue!).



Patch, looking particularly cute one day.

And, again, so cute.


Awwwwww....