Sunday, December 21, 2008

12/21/08 Pancake Breakfast

Today I took The Three to a long-standing annual social event put on by some longtime motorcycle friends. We join together for a pancake breakfast at a friend's house before going to the annual motorcycle show, but lots of people never make it to the show anymore. I'm among them.

I braved it with all three alone, hoping to get in a few conversations with old friends. And that basically worked. This sort of thing is much easier now that the boys are older. I gave them a stern talking-to ahead of time about wrestling, fighting, running, and jumping, though Julian got away with some furniture gymnastics. Other than some fake-clinginess (holding onto my legs and asking to be picked up, something she NEVER does at home), Katrina was pretty forgiving. No major fits at least, phew.

It helped that I invested the effort to go to Borders yesterday to get some new books for the grownup breakfast.

Felipe happily engages Katrina in a show-n-tell.

In some ways, she's easy at these things because she's not a super-curious toddler who gets into everything. In other ways, she's hard, because even if she doesn't show it, I know she's a time bomb that can make life very unpleasant for anyone within a mile's earshot if something doesn't go Exactly Her way. Fortunately, she kept the lid on and made a liar out of me.

I had a brief flash of an artistic moment here -- stripes! It was better before Julian adjusted his position, he'd been right against Gabriel.

We made a graceful exit before things got too out of control.

Back at the ranch house, Katrina is testing Uncle Ronan's footsteps in graffiti art. I spent 20 minutes tonight Goo-Gone-ing and scrubbing the fridge, floor and a few walls. No more crayons in baby's reach!


It rained this afternoon, sapping the few faint flickers of motivation I had to take the kids anywhere after Katrina's nap. I was quite happy to stay at home, give them an early dinner, and have an overall peaceable evening.

12/21/08

5 comments:

Louise said...

Hi, Noemi! Just wanted to let you know that I've been enjoying your blog so much. I know it sounds weird, but I'm finding all the nitty gritty details of both your kids and your house fascinating!

So different from our life; the path not chosen. Some days I think, "Oh, I wish I was doing that," and others, hmmm, not so much :-)

Seeing Rubye and Felipe in this post made me sad that we missed the Pancake Breakfast. Many of the attendees we usually saw only once a year, there in Menlo Park. When we're in town, we're always so grateful to see those who come to a Tuesday dinner.

I guess the holiday is making me a little maudlin, so I'll stop now. Merry, merry Christmas to you and your lovely family.

nb said...

Oh my! Hi Louise! I'd never have imagined you'd follow my mundanity, let alone find it interesting?! I'd be floored, except then I'd get oatmeal on my face.

(Don't be fooled, folks, Louise leads a thrilling, fascinating, philanthropic, and well-documented life: Our Odyssey)

We certainly hope to see you again at one of our regular -- and irregular -- moto-events. You guys will HAVE to make it to the big house unveiling! Meantime, I too enjoy watching your life vicariously...more than a road not taken, a whole different world. Wow.

Louise said...

Do you have a time frame yet for the house warming (re-warming?) We'll be in San Diego in late February, and might make it up to the Bay Area in early March. We're thinking about taking the Coast Starlight train and leaving the bus south.

Our life may be quite different than yours, but it definitely has routines and mundane-ness. Bus maintenance alone is unending, and when the 25 year old windows drip rusty water on my head in the middle of the night AGAIN, crankiness rules the roost. Yesterday our main coolant hose started leaking rapidly and we faced losing 12 gallons of green goo onto the ground.

But, yeah, we love it.

cstatman said...

it were goot ta see ya'll there. Arrrr.. (Just finished reading "Pirates Don't Change Diapers" to get Saul to sleep in cold cold wiaconsin.

nb said...

Louise (and anyone else following this odd venue for a conversation!) -- I think we'll have a "key party" open house, when the house is ready to move back into. That "should" be end of Feb, beg. of March -- stay tuned! Then later, when we're settled, we'll have a major PARTY with great food. So you have two opportunities! Meantime you can follow progress here:
The Rich Poor House

Plenty of Bus Parking! Would LOVE to see you and Sean -- and Opal!