Chinese Checkers

One of my favorite things to do at my Granna and Poppa's house while growing up was to play Chinese Checkers. We'd finish dinner and dessert, clear the dishes and pull out the old checker board (it's from the forties I'm told!) I loved the feel of those big heavy marbles in my hand. I loved putting them in their spots and hopping them around the board. Mostly I loved the comraderie, joking, thinly veiled threats (all in the spirit of play of course) and the anticipation -- who would win?? Well, it was never me. But I loved being there with my family, playing, and smiling . . . AND the fact that we always got to stay up much later than our usual bedtime. The adults would get just as engrossed as us kids and time would fly right out the window. My Great Aunt Lee, James, Me, Poppa, and Great Uncle Bobby. I was seven (I think).
Well, imagine my happy nostalgia when after a wonderful supper -- with my grandparents, my dadrabbit, my visiting uncle Rick, my kids and my husband -- my Granna said we could pull out that old board and play. I was so excited that Aurelia was finally old enough to really play this game in the way that I have such good memories of! And yes, we did eat supper and dessert and do the dishes just like when I was a kid, and YES -- they did get to stay up MUCH later than their usual bedtime!

Uncle Rick with Oliver, Aurelia, (her GREAT) Granna, Dadrabbit, Jason and Ezra. Poppa was doing something else when I took this photo.
Granna helping Aurelia with her strategies.
Jason playing in Ezra's "name". He came in first. Aurelia in second, Grandy in third and Uncle Rick in fourth. I wasn't playing -- for the sake of time! They kind of look like twins!

Artist in the Air

En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors.

My mom, who loves to paint, is returning to this once abandoned love with abandon, and spent the better parts of Friday and Saturday en plein air painting and then submitting her art to a local gallery for a judged show they were holding. First prize is $500. We don't know who won because we went out to pizza instead of waiting around to see who the winners were, but in my heart my mom is a winner; and we enjoyed being out in the "plein air" with her for a few hours Saturday afternoon.

Here's mom in a candid shot of her explaining her muse.

Here's Ezra holding Mima's last finished painting of a fisherman on the pier.

I love this shot of them looking over the rail in front of the boats.

Here are the kids playing it safe near the rocks and the edge of the water.

ere's Oliver looking thouroughly entertained by this outing (not). He did enjoy a nice chew on my keys however, and will be enriched by this experience I'm sure.

The Point Is. . .

I just love photos. I don't care if they are of some great outing we had or nothing at all. I love photos. I love posting them. I love thinking about them, and looking at them, and writing about them. I especially love when they are of people I love. When I was a kid I used to hoard photos of my mom from when she was in her twenties. I was so love with my mom and photos of her. Now I take and hoard and scrap and linger over photos of my kids. Other family too, if they happen to be in the photos with my kids.

I can't believe that these little people who disturb my sleep and destroy my home (organizationally that is) can cause such feelings of overwhelming love and joy and anger and frustration all at the same time. Or that at the end of the day, in which they've been in my face and my space constantly, I would still want to look at photos of them. Maybe it's because in that captured moment I can keep them they way they are forever and I don't have to tell the photo image of them to obey, or be polite, or be kind, or to STOP THAT RIGHT NOW! Or maybe it's just because I love them so much that I want to keep the memories of their lives in my hands where I can relive them over an over -- or maybe it's none of that or all of it. Whatever. Here are some of the photos from this week in the lives of the Ward household. Enjoy.

Oliver's sitting up (mostly) by himself now.Ezra's got to have his dog and his blankies with him more often (but he's been sick!) and he can't pedal these trikes (he's still too small) but he sure is having a good time!Aurelia still loves her "goo-goo gaa-gaa" doll, aka "arnold", aka "stella" even though Stella has lost her hair and one leg. See - here they are "twins" becaue they both have hats on and their eyes are the same color. If you're wondering, yes, sometimes if I'm not paying a lot of attention, Stella will shock and surprise me because she's so life-like. If you think she's ugly, well, get over it. Aurelia loves her and doesn't care that you think the doll is freaky.Well, matter of fact, if you tell her that, you might hurt her feelings, so just don't ("beware of wowsing a rizards wath!" (very inside joke) but I'm serious.) =D

Anywho -

Check in tomorrow - there might be a post about my mom's plein air painting show. Signing out. Sarah

Elephants, Snakes, Hippos and Llamas. Oh My!

The circus mailed us FREE tickets (that is free for the kids and twenty two bucks-- yes, $22!! for an adult -- ok $11 if you count that the coupon admitted two adults for the price of one)) to the circus! Well, with that price (tongue in cheek here) who could resist?? (OK - we admit that we didn't read the "free" tickets closely enough - but we would have gone anyways . . .) ANYWHO - it was a lot of fun! There were some CRAZY acts in the three rings before intermission - one skinny little flexi guy fit himself into a suitcase that would not have taken me on an overnight trip!!, and the hula-hoop girls were amazing, the dogs and horses went around in circles and the clowns danced (well, the clowns weren't very amazing, but they DID make the kids laugh). However, I was holding a sleeping Oligator and keeping his exposed ear plugged (because it was LOUD in that hot tent) so I didn't get any photos of tose things. Here are the photos I DID get. In addition to these lovely memories, we got to spend the time with our neighbors and friends: Marianne, mei-mei and julietta -- and Rudy, teaghan and london. (PS congrats to that fam on the birth of their son that afternoon!!)
How'd he get up there? This was a shot of the trapeze artist flipping off of his swing. Pretty cool where he ended up in this shot.SO, the elephant rides were by far the best event at the circus for our kids. Ezra and I got to ride way up in the front of one elephant. Of course, I had the camera so no one got a shot of us. Aurelia and her little friend, Teaghan, rode the next elephant. It was so much fun to see them up there giggling together!
Yes, we paid to have the kids posed with a snake and if you click on the photo and look closely you'll see that it was shedding. Check out the kids! Aurelia was scoping out the skin and Ezra was captivated by th snake's face. Outside, after the circus, they had a great petting zoo, a jumper, a really gross bathroom, and some rides (I think). They had a zebra in a pen and a baby hippo swam around in a little tub playing with the strings above it. Boy is it ugly or what? Click on the photo for an enlarged view. Ugh! They are not as cute as the drawings in kids' books make them look. Those beady, red eyes make it look evil. . . ok - that's enough of that. Moving on . . .
I love this photo of Jason, so I had to post it - he's still the man of my heart! Hereare Aurelia and Ezra filling up their hands with food for the animals . . .
Ezra felt more comfortable feeding the goats. They are smaller and not as greedy I guess. More his speed, anyways.
Aurelia fed all the animals, but this one llama got the most, I think. It sure is pretty (as compared to that hippo. . .)
Mima gave me a break and held onto her littlest sweetie while the kids fed the animals. Don't they look comfy together?

All together it was an interesting experience. We'll probably wait a couple of years before going again, but I'm glad we made it out this year!

Family Reunion

So the Aguilar family reunion was a gerat success! All the kids were there, and most of the grand and great grand kids too! It was so much fun to see my cousins again (after almost a decade -- or is it two??) of not seeing some of them! Not because we don't live close enough together, but because of sin and fighting. It has been a long time in coming, but I think a lot of forgiving and accepting has occured lately, and the realization that a lot of time has been lost. So we finally got to make this reunion happen and I know that it meant a lot to Grandpa. Here's a photo of all the grand kids ( who could make it, and my Jason). Top row: Bryon (the oldest) James, my Jason, Mike, Jason, Cory, Kyle, Tony. Bottom row: Jessica, me, Grandpa, scooter (the dog), Melanie, and Vickie (the baby).
Here's just the girls - we're only missing Elise and Becky -- not too many. See how grandpa has made his choice, though . . . . Coke - diet.
Here's a photo of the Greats. Top row: Sage, Mikey, Ezra (me) Athea (stephanie). Bottom row: Aurelia, Aidan, Oliver, Alex.
My Mom's family. Scott, Pearl, Jason and Ezra, Me and Oliver, Aurelia and Jimmy with Grampa.
Just the boys -- and that dog. lol! There are LOTS more photos of all the fun we had - but the most important thing on this day was family. It was so good to see them all. Thank you, God for helping to make this day happen!

Professional Pretzel Preparers

While cleaning and organizing my kitchen cupboards and drawers, we found some kid sized aprons. Aurelia was so excited that we decided we needed to make something. So, I pulled out a pretzel recipe that I had enjoyed when I was a kid. When Ezra awoke from his nap, we got to work!
Still clean, the chefs prepare to create!
HEre we've got the flour and dough ready to go.
A final touch, Aurelia is brushing on the egg-whites and sprinkling cinnamon and sugar. Yum!