Mahalo.ne.Trash

In the last few days, there have been some real gems from the boys: Owen, upon school pickup today: "MOMMY! School really isn't so bad after all. And I got to do a special thing where I took some paper to the office!" Marcus, upon school pickup today: "Mommy, I missed you." then, with a fierce-double-lip-pout, "I was MAD! I missed you" Owen: "I asked Sam if I could have a playdate with him." Me: "Oh yeah? What did he say?" Owen: "Nothing. The bell rang"

With 6 minutes to go the Jets scored a touchdown to go up 28-14 over the Pats. It was a beautiful pass to the back of the endzone by Mark Sanchez, his third TD pass of the game. Right after we finished talking about what the "red zone" is and just before the touchdown play, Owen and I had this exchange: Owen: Touchdown! Wow! Me: Wow is right! He went to his second or third read and threw off his back foot. Owen: I thought he was going to throw to number 49. Me: (startled) ...me too... (now laughing) But he was covered in the flat. Owen: Oh man. The Patriots are get-out-of-here! Me: Yup, the Pats sure look like they're toast. Owen: They're raw eggs! Me: ... Owen: I made that one up. It's really scary how quickly he's picking up the intricacies of the game. He saw the fullback (#49) pealing out on a flat route after the play-action. I remember back when I was sleep-deprived, changing poopy diapers at 3am thinking to myself, "This will all pay off eventuall...

I saw Inception for the first time this afternoon. It was a great concept that turned out to be well executed. A true rarity in Hollywood since you usually get one or the other, but not both. Interestingly, Inception is one of very few movies to pass the Bechdel Test, but only just barely. What's the Bechdel Test? you ask. It's pretty simple; a movie must meet the following criteria to pass the test: 1) Have 2 or more female characters with speaking roles. 2) The two female characters must talk to each other. 2) They must talk about something other than a man. The two female leads in Inception exchange 2-3 sentences about dreams, but it can easily be argued that the context was all about Leonardo's character, especially since it is his dream. I'm willing to bet that none of you can name 5 films that pass the test. I know I couldn't, even counting Inception .

This was Marcus' first week at the Cottage Coop Preschool , just around the corner from home. He is officially in love with the playyard and with his teachers, and is enjoying exploring, singing, pretending & the classroom pets. At snack time Mar was thrilled to be able to pour his own water and promptly held his plastic cup up to a classmate and declared, "Cheers!", starting a string of two-year-old salutations. The school attempts to do all the fundraising for the year by partnering with the local Whole Foods and hosting an Apple Sale, each September. Basically, for the low price of $20 you get a dozen locally grown, organic apples in a snazzy reusable bag. You'll receive a voucher for your apples and can head into the Whole Foods on Arroyo to pick up your goodies! You can pay directly online through paypal or give me a check before September 30. If you live out of the area, and still would like to help the school and our community, I'd like to propo...

by Erin When I went to pick Owen up from school he wasn't happy or sad, he was just flat out exhausted. But by all reports he had a great day. His teacher Senora Ibarra said to me and Owen, "Tuvas un dia exellente! (You had an excellent day!)" When tucking him into bed tonight I was full on expecting him to complain about having to go everyday, or wanting more home days. So I was surprised when he said, "Mommy, school is like a video game that I get to play all day!" We hope he keeps up this enthusiasm!

Last night we had this (paraphrased) conversation: Erin: "Jeez, I can't believe Owen is starting school tomorrow. I keep thinking about what I need to take care of for tomorrow morning, but it's hitting me that this will be every morning!" John: "I know, every day from here on out. Crazy." Erin: "It's weird. I didn't think he'd make it this far!" John: (laughing) "What do you mean by that?" Erin: "Well, when you have a baby, you think of them as your baby. But he's a boy now." John: "Oh, I thought you meant you didn't think he'd survive to 5." Well, we sent our boy off to kindergarten this morning for the first time. Fortunately, thanks to summer school and his time at the Caltech Children's Center, he was more than ready. After dropping him off, Erin texted: "Awesome dropoff. As we walked up to school he says, 'I'm so excited!' No tears whatsoever." Here he is i...

Last year we bought a Canon PowerShot SD780IS Digital Elph camera (say that five times fast). It has been a great camera and together with our iPhones has taken most of the photography that appears on our blog. So we were extremely saddened when the camera refused to open its sleepy eye one morning when John was trying to upload new pics to our computer. We of course didn't have our original receipt (who keeps all their receipts?!), so we weren't optimistic that our warranty would be valid. Well, tonight Erin put in some serious web research and found a solution. After reading through hundreds of posts on various Canon/digital-camera help sites she found one solution kept popping up again and again: Just bang it on a hard surface and the lens will dislodge and deploy properly. We weren't the only ones to doubt the wisdom of this violent solution: Another option was to send it in to Canon where they would likely deem the cause of the problem "improper or harsh usage...

For the last year or so, I've had the great intention of getting to the farmer's market once a week. Embarrassing as it is, I've only made it once. I have been pleased with the selection of fresh fruits and veggies at the regular grocers, but at this point I know it's because I was comparing the produce to the sub-par stuff available in Oahu (everything shipped over and often past it's prime). So.... I signed our family up for a large weekly veggie/fruit box from our local Community Supported Agriculture group, Abundant Harvest Organics ! Each Saturday at 10:15, I head to the pick-up spot for Pasadena (about a mile from home), and schlep home a weeks worth of organic produce. Find out about the group in your area by visiting Local Harvest Last week's rundown included: butter lettuce, lemon basil, radishes, tomatoes, avocado, serrano peppers, jalepenos, bell peppers, potatoes, eggplant, butternut squash, red onion, a dozen peaches, asian pears, yellow pear toma...

by: John As I was putting Owen to bed tonight, we had this somewhat surreal conversation: Owen: Dad, when I grow up and play football for real, will you watch the videos on the computer? Me: Sure I will, of course! Owen : Well, make sure you press "Like."

by: John Mom says "cute." Dad says "unruly." At Kids Kuts, watching Toy Story while the barber takes a little off of the back. Now that's a nice back-to-school cut! Mar's late-stage growth displays 3 distinct textures: Curly, nappy and matted. Owen to his brother: "Mar, be brave like Chad Ochocinco! " Once we got home, Mar became as elusive as a Hollywood starlet, and about as temperamental. I had to make a movie because he kept blurring my attempts at camera-phone photography.

we pulled into the neighborhood yesterday and passed one of these: from the back seat, I hear: O: woah! that looks like a REAL race car! is it, mom? M: OOOH, nice! Me: that's a porshe cayman, and yes, they are really fast O: i bet those are extra expensive Me: hmmmm, you're probably right O: maybe i can save up all my dollars until i have six, and then I can have one!