3/25/07 Gabriel and Julian go to an open house

Today a local realtor, whose flyers we've been getting for years, was holding an open house nearby. Being nosy neighbors, I figured we should go check it out. I also wanted to meet the realtor, as he claims to be an expert of our neighborhood. And I was more than impressed when he not only remembered our house, but knew how long we'd been there and that it has an "unusual" layout (which is a very nice way of putting it).

Overall it was a nice house, nicely landscaped, well-maintained, nice floors. But the kitchen cabinets looked...well, old, like they'd been painted lots of times, though with obviously new knobs. And opening a cabinet revealed a piece of unadhered shelf paper on top of an unfinished particle-board shelf, with exposed wires and pipes. This is what you get for almost $1.2 million in Silicon Valley, folks!


Gabriel and Julian were very cute today in their new shoes (which they're very proud of) and some new T-shirts (which unfortunately are very limited at LL Bean and Gabriel's doesn't fit all that well).

I'm amazed how much more substantial these new shoes are. OK, the bright new white might be a little dorky, but it won't take long for them to fix that. Though I'd really like Gabriel to learn to tie laces, I have to say I'm very glad they both have shoes they can take on and off themselves. Good Mom for getting them their first pair of really good shoes? Or Bad Mom for this being their first pair of really good shoes?

This morning Katrina was very excited by the Sunday funnies, a popular ritual in this house.

Darn, this photo is out of focus, but it was the best I got of a very cute scene of Julian and a bowl of strawberries, blueberries and mango. I know it's greatly inadequate to be proud of the fact that I always have some sort of yummy fruit for our big Sunday breakfasts, when it should be something they get every morning. In my defense, breakfast is typically hectic here, and Gabriel refuses to eat fruit in his cereal, though I often get to put banana in Julian's cereal, and they almost always have fruit during the day too. Come to think of it, this bowl Julian has is really quite some bounty for most of the world. I'm glad he appreciated it.

Another busy, full, intense day, made so partly by Dave's going to work this afternoon. Gabriel asked him, Innocent Kid Comment of the Day: "Dad, is work open every day?" A "Cats in the Cradle" moment if there ever was one!

But, since Dave was at work, and Katrina was up from a much-too-short nap again (waah!), I decided to make the boys' dinner really early, like starting at 4:30. I was amazed how well it worked. They were sitting down to dinner at 5pm, and had already cleaned up the family room, with no drama, no threats, no timers, no putzing, no nagging!! Now those are 'No's I could use more of!!

3/25/07