Surrounded by Girls

Mama's Girl

2012-01-25T14:28:00.000-08:00

Presumably from ~~Jennifer Lutz~~ Tammy Brown, who is chaperoning Jenna's field trip to Sea World today.

FWD:She just wanted to let you know that she loves you and is thinking about you

Wild Animals

2012-01-13T12:57:00.000-08:00

Watching them (at the San Diego Zoo with the Browns).

Wearing them.

Hair today...

2012-01-11T06:16:00.000-08:00

... gone tomorrow.

* rim shot *

... and a celebratory lunch at Corvette Diner with the Maxwells.

Winter in San Diego

2011-12-29T08:20:00.000-08:00

At Torrey Pines State Park with the Gardners.

Happy Gotcha Day

2011-12-28T06:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Gotcha Day to our number one dog-ter, Emma Louise.

Adenoidectomy

2011-12-28T06:30:00.000-08:00

Catching up on my blogging and I wanted to note that Jenna had her adenoids removed last week. It was an outpatient procedure, and she came through with flying colors. Flying colors and no adenoids.

Here's a picture of Jenna all dressed and ready to go in to the operating room.

She was a trooper, and charmed the hospital staff. The actual surgery couldn't have taken more than five minutes though recovery was a little slower as the anesthesia did a number on her.

Now, we're learning that,

"Bad breath is also normal and is caused by the scabs that form after surgery.

So not only did she gets lots of presents, popsicles, and ice cream, she's now getting more than her fair share of gum to, um... freshen up her breath.

The Tooth Fairy Came to Visit

2011-12-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

The Tooth Fairy came to visit our house last night.

At dinner over at Granny Franny and Grandpa Bob's house, Jenna bit down on her dessert (apple pie) and started crying. Her tooth, which was loose, now hurt very badly. I looked, and it was bleeding. So we went to the kitchen, grabbed a paper towel and pulled. She really started crying as it hurt more now. What she didn't realize was that I had her tooth in my hand! When that became clear, the tears dried up and this look crossed her face:

Much better! She got a silver dollar from Grandpa Bob (he had promised) and one whole dollar from the Tooth Fairy.

As I tweeted this morning, "Santa, Schmanta. Kids frickin' love the Tooth Fairy!"

Happiest. Child. Ever.

2011-12-13T20:32:00.000-08:00

Jenna is Special Person in kindergarten this week. I'll have to have Laura explain what is going on here, but suffice it to say that I can't imagine a bigger smile has ever crossed anyone's face. Ever.

Still Life with Portrait

2011-12-07T12:56:00.001-08:00

Eagle Eye

2011-12-01T10:04:00.001-08:00

Go Team Chargers!

2011-11-27T17:02:00.001-08:00

"Go Team Chargers" says Jenna.

Costume Party

2011-11-09T08:25:00.000-08:00

Jenna as Miss Piggy, seen here in the neighborhood Halloween Costume Parade with her kindergarten classmates.

Melanie as a witch, also parading on Halloween.

Emma, the cat.

Angry birds, with Caroline and Elizabeth Maxwell.

Jenna and Katelyn Gardner with their hair "did" at Corvette Diner.

Melanie dressed as Julie Gardner.

And a special bonus costume: Granny Franny at welding class.

Happy Birthday, Melanie

2011-10-28T04:55:00.000-07:00

I hope seven is a day at the beach.

It's going to be a ball.

... and here's a snapshot of the Facebook love:

Challenged Athletes Foundation Triathlon Challenge

2011-10-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

Or, "How I spent my Sunday".

Aspen Medical Products San Diego Triathlon Challenge (SDTC) unique event boasting an all new "challenge distance" triathlon course consisting of a 1 mile swim, 44 mile bike and 10 mile run on one of the most breathtaking courses in the country. This one-of-a-kind event will change your life as athletes compete side by side with Ironman® champions, world-class challenged athletes, celebrities and other enthusiasts while raising important funds for the Challenged Athletes Foundation®(CAF). Money raised will help CAF provide individuals with physical challenges with the tools necessary to find success in sports — and in life.

Waiting for our wave to start, with some of the twenty-five or so Active.com employees who did the race - either individually or as part of a relay team.

Coming out of the water after the ~35minute, 1 mile swim. Photo courtesy of Fran Preisman, who was good enough to come cheer me on early in the morning.

Ready to ride!

A few hours later, waiting at the finish line...

And here I come, round the last corner and into the finish chute.

Success! Across the line and back with my girls, as evidenced by the medal that Jenna has already taken from me.

UPDATE: Official results are in. 05:56:02.3.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-19T22:32:00.000-07:00

Jenna's class took a field trip to the Bates Nut Farm on Tuesday.

I love this photo below. The juxtaposition of her hair against the straw and corn husks... that's art, folks!

Glad Tidings

2011-10-12T19:35:00.001-07:00

Guess who made the cover of this month's Congregation Beth Isreal Tidings newsletter?

Postscript: Here's the song that inspired the title.

Remember When?

2011-10-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

Technical Difficulties

2011-10-07T06:32:00.001-07:00

UPDATE: Sun, Oct 9, 6:56am. And we're back. For future reference, in Blogger "update" means change, not save.

In trying to make an update to the site, I seem to have lost the blog template altogether. My apologies. Hopefully we'll be back up and running with the real Surrounded by Girls soon.

Old Mother Goose

2011-10-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

Old Mother Goose, when
She wanted to wander,
Would ride through the air
On a very fine gander.

Mother Goose came home with Jenna yesterday. Any child in Mrs. McCormick's class can take her home after they've memorized and recited ten nursery rhymes. Then the kids (well, the parents... or in our case, Laura) fill in a journal with stories and pictures of Mother Goose's time with them.

Here are the pictures that made our pages:

Rocktoberfest

2011-10-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

Last night we were guests of friends at Scripps Ranch Swim & Raquet Club's annual Oktoberfest. There was a rock climbing wall and the girls spent all night climbing and racing back into line to do it again. They got pretty good at it too!

Jenna got about 2/3 of the way...

...and eventually Melanie got to the very top!

Happy Birthday, Jenna

2011-09-12T12:19:00.001-07:00

Here's a snippet of the love coming via Facebook:

Back to School

2011-09-06T22:49:00.000-07:00

The girls heading back to Jerabek Elementary School on an unusually wet day.

Melanie started 2nd grade, and is in Mrs. Bologna's class.

Jenna -- Baby Jenna! -- is starting kindergarten, and has Mrs. McCormick.

Emma Hatches the Egg

2011-08-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

Laura took this photo of Emma in her "nest" today...

and it reminded me of this book from childhood (it was at my grandparents' house, if I remember correctly)...

Learning to Ride

2011-08-08T11:48:00.000-07:00

After taking the training wheels off Melanie's bike a few weeks ago, we finally got to the park to try to ride without them. And you know what... SHE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!

After just 10-minutes of stop and start, I was able to do the classic "I'm holding on to you. I'm holding on to you." while not actually holding on to her. Pretty soon she was getting rolling on her own - no mean feat - and even turning. She wanted to ride on the sidewalk but did have a bit of a hard time keeping the bike pointed straight-ahead enough to do so.

She was amazing though, and SO HAPPY to be riding on her own. I'm most proud of her attitude. She was excited, and even when she fell over she got right back up and got on the bike. It was a really, really special moment.

Here's some video taken by our friend Anna (that's her daughter, Lauren, in the videos).

Sisters are Doing it For Themselves

2011-08-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

Melanie helping Jenna to unbutton her dress at bedtime:

... and hanging out at Sea World together the next day.