The Zoo

Ed's favourite animals at the zoo were the birds.

The girls videoed the entire zoo experience. Here they are filming each other instead of anything zoo related. Luckily we have two copies of this plus this still that I took of nothing.

Lucy at the start of the zoo experience before it all turned to custard. There were no more pictures taken by me once we got past the first two exhibits.

Today in celebration of Rosh Hashana I took the girls to the Cape May Zoo. We had heard good things about it but mostly that it was free so we decided to go check it out. I felt oh so guilty about giving the courtesy "I'll pass" wave to the senior citizen they had posted at the gate holding the pail labeled "Donations". It worked and I felt really bad about it but all I had was the two quarters that I had to hold onto for the kids to feed the goats. In the end that counted as a donation but still it just didn't seem like it was enough to help their cause ("your donations provide the food for the animals). My guilt continued as I noticed that Maya's most favourite animal at the zoo-the camel had kind of...small humps. I read on their Camel info board that that means they are having to use the fat supply from the humps. "Ah mum, I thought they would have really tall humps and we could ride on one!" Well, I guess I now know why out of all the animals those are the ones she wanted to see. Maybe I will have to drive back and donate a little more. I am a little sore because I was the acting camel of the journey carrying Ed, cameras, kids stuff, the backpack(that I could no longer carry eddie in because my back was going to snap off) but all in all it was an enlightening day AND I only lost Eddie once. When I was having to read the entire camel info to Maya I told Aida to watch Eddie, soon she returned (without eddie) to say that some people said they would watch him until his mom came to get him. Yeah, Ed was like 70 meters away staring at the parrots. We sold our strollers in NZ and I just can't justify buying a new one when he is nearly 2 but I guess I should have because turns out the free zoo doesn't rent them out and it is a little hard to take 4 kids to the zoo alone. What I did learn other than I can't go again until he is like 4, is explained in the following pictures.

After the zoo we were starving so I made a deal that we could stop and eat at BK in lieu of trying to find the Cape May diamonds of which I have no idea where to look. It seemed fair enough. My girls got their cups and were mad that they didn't have any soda in them. I told them how they can fill up their own. The BK we were at had the buttons not the levers shown here, the girls were pressing the pictures as hard as they could and looking all around the machine for the ice. Who knew it was so complicated? Very cute actually.

At the zoo, you could put a quarter in to get some feed for the goats or ducks or whatever animal was around. I put a quarter in my eager girls' hands only to have them run over put it in the slot and stare at it smiling then that smile turned to a frown. They looked up at me and said "Mum, nothing is happening, we put the money in!" I showed them how you then have to turn the knob. "When will it stop coming out? Can we move our hands now?" I would have taken a picture but Ed was about to be swallowed by a flamingo so you know...

Boxed Eddie

My kids love nothing more than a good box.

Pizza Search

I have a fancy camera on my phone, that is my phone has a camera within it...aka a camera phone. It is there to catch those spur of the moment events that take place (provided that I remember to bring it with me in the first place but that would be another post). Lucky for all of you I had this fancy phone/camera device on me on this special day. Plus, I just like it because for once my huge head looks small when compared to the hugest slice ever!
Mark and I couldn't help but notice that pizza and sub places are quite prominent in South Jersey so we thought we would go ahead and try one out- sans kids. This is the first hole in the wall we came across but we were cleaning our filthy house and were starving so we didn't care. I could not get over how BIG the slices were, come to find most slices are this size. Quite the change from the healthy NZ portions that would be the equivalent of a personal pizza slice here. I am in no way condoning these huge portions but I admit they are fascinating. The first few take aways we had while we were homeless, we could only eat half and regretted not just sharing a meal. About one month on and I am ashamed to admit we can now "hold our own". While the take-away pizzas are world's better than what we had in Provo or NZ, we have yet to find THE pizza place. Luckily there is still plenty of time for research...While I enjoy just about any pizza that doesn't have olives or brains on it, my favourite would still have to be pepperoni, mushroom, and onion. What is your favourite topping for a pizza?

Okay Okay Okay

I know this is a little premature of me but I am once again organizing and those of you that like my smugmug will be really really proud of me in like 12 years when I am finished. I came across this photo today and I felt that it was significant in 2 ways: 1. I love Halloween! 2. How good of a mom am I? Great-right? Just look at the cleanliness of my child!
Provided that I am able to get my act together, I have big plans for posting in October that most likely will not happen but just know I considered doing something BIG. I like Halloween in a celebrate Fall, cutesy, commercialized way not so much the devilish, dark evil way. I went to a Halloween shop and as Ed clung to me for his life when the headless ghouls were bobbing up and down, I was left feeling glad he was doing so because it was all so morbid that I was scared. I guess in my world I have been clinging more to the Martha Stewart or better still, the Hallmark Halloween. Seeing all the decor at once was overwhelming and quite creepy. I am not letting it discourage me though I picked up my satin fall leaves and my mini pumpkins and I am ready to go.

Happy Birthday Maya!

I am having computer issues and hence picture issues so when I get that all sorted I can post a picture of the birthday girl herself. Until then you get round two of birthday cupcakes for the week. I know these are all class-well more than my usual fare anyway. Don't worry, I kept the Sara trademark pastel colours. Now onto the cake...

ORDER NOW!!

So if anyone needs any chocolates or gift wrap for ANY occasion you need to go to Innisbrook. They also have cool sortable socks, where there is a small strip of color on the bottom so you can just assign a different color for each child and sort quickly while still having a plain white sock. They have a little of everything, even sale items. It is school fundraiser time and this is what the girls are selling. It on high quality recycled paper and it is either reversible or has cutting grids on the back. There is 18 feet of wrap on every standard roll people! Now I am not a mathmatician but that is a lot of wrapping paper perfect for those big items. Not a wrapper? Think outside the box! Wrapping paper makes great origami paper, can be framed as art or background art, crafts, anything. Check them out. If you need any of this it is a great way to help educate future America, to stock your wrapping rooms, and to get ahead on gift buying. Click on the link below and it will automatically link your order to the girls' school and the girls' accounts. Anyway I apologize for the shameless plug but I don't do door to door unless the people are handing out candy. :) Any help is greatly appreciated. Orders due October 3rd

http://www.innisbrook.com/index_students.cfm?id1=R72173D&id2=&id3=

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY DEAR!

Do not adjust your monitors, that is indeed a giant cupcake you are seeing. C'mon what did you expect from the kitchen of Sara?

Yeah more Build A Bears! You guessed it-Hannah Montana Bear. Lucy was so pleased though and it was a fun birthday.

See, now this is what I love about america, cupcakes at school. Lucy wanted a nautical theme because they have been learning about sea-life this week. I was up for the challenge and believe it or not this is my own design. Sour patch kids impaled with toothpicks, I mean holding fishing line catching dolpins and whales. You can't see the detail but I did add a bit of extra texture for the "sand" on the beach. Go ahead and magnify it you know you want to.

It has come and gone quickly but my little Lucy is now seven. It was so sweet this morning as she came out with a big smile on her face and her fancy birthday crown on. She had no reservations whatsoever about wearing it to school. The last time she wore it was to a restaurant earlier this month in New Hampshire on a day that was not her birthday at all. The waitress came up and saw the "Happy Birthday" crown on her head and naturally enquired, "how old are you today?" without missing a beat she replied, "seven". I can totally see where she was coming from because I have become known as "the flosser" under a similar situation. It shouldn't have been a surprise when the entire staff came out with her sundae singing "Happy Birthday" while Lucy sat there with a big smile on her face and politely replied, "Thank You!" We did not want the waitress to feel silly so there we all were wishing Lucy a Happy Birthday right down to Lucy making up her favorite presents. Blast that waitress and her endless questions! I know, I know honesty. I have the same problem as Lucy, I don't intentionally lie, it just comes out of my mouth and a hole is dug seemingly effortlessly.
With that, I have to say that I love my Lucy she is adorable and I love how she is the only one that giggles at my jokes, I love her little face, I love watching her ride her two-wheeler as she zig-zags down to path trying to balance. I can't believe I have a seven year old and I can only imagine it will get even better. I know the real reason many of you are reading this post is because you are waiting with baited breath to see the birthday cake creation I made this year. For my cake fans I have an extra treat for you, I also made birthday cupcakes for school. Enjoy.

1 Bagel = 12 Slices White Bread

I went to my huge grocery store and I was hungry driving home and wound up spending all of my coupon savings at a place on the way home promising "Hot Bagels". I picked up my bag of bagels and it must have weighed 5 pounds. Seriously, it was like the size of a full grocery bag and then another small bag because they didn't all quite fit in that. I got them home and Ed grabbed one and sat out on the front porch. I was glad for the opportunity to get my camera out in Joizee. The size of these bagels made me realize that indeed one bagel is equivalent to the carbs of 12 slices of bread or whatever it is they say. I ate three that day. Oops.

Power Tools

This bad boy takes some serious muscle to operate, too bad for me I as all out. If only Maya were home with her strong skills...

Mark has been hard at work, so Ed and I decided to help him out and assemble the Kapla box ourselves. I have to admit that at about screw 2.5 my well unexercised arms were starting to tremble. Either that drill was extra heavy or more likely I needed to start up my yoga routine again. We eventually accomplished the task at hand, although Mark's drill bit is now more round than phillip shaped and the box is a little crooked, but still it is one less thing Mark has to do and Ed and I were feeling pretty good about ourselves. I think it may have taken us the full two hours Maya was at kindergarten but oh well.

Ed was in charge of assembly. I don' t really think he got it right but it worked well enough and I didn't have the heart to tell him he was wrong.

Err Fresh Parmigiano Anyone?

By now most of you have heard my harrowing tale of the largest supermarket ever but I will post this for those of you that haven't. After eating Wendy's then McDonald's, then Wendy's, Pizza, Wendy's again... we decided we should go grocery shopping to fill up our empty cupboards of our new rental. I woke up early to try to get it done before the girls woke up. I ended up going to one like 20 minutes away which was one thing but you should also know it was Labor Day weekend so it was already packed. This store was huge and it was all food. At first I was fascinated but that was quickly eclipsed by my hunger. Unfortunately I was just at the beginning end of the largest supermarket that I have ever seen in my life. I was not familiar with the layout or the products, so when I started out in a section that had separate kiosks for hot dogs, provolone cheese, a separate one for the mozzarella cheese, salami and pickles every way you turn, I started just grabbing stuff because when I looked past this section I had another mile to cover and I who knew if I would see this stuff again? Turns out that was the gourmet section and I did see the cheaper counterparts of these products later on, but I didn't have the energy to switch everything out. I kid you not, by aisle 6 I was feeling completely exhausted, overwhelmed and my stomach had successfully consumed half of itself. I wanted to give up and cry, really the tears were starting to well.. but I knew I had to return with food and I had to finish what I started so that hopefully I would not have to return for a long time (incidentally I have had to return about every other day since). I have never seen so many aisles of pickles or varieties of pretzels in my life. I had to make decisions with everything, taking into account price, sales, volume and then trying to decipher which products were the eastern equivalent to the brands I knew on the west that would be similar to what the kids were used to eating in NZ. You just don't think of these things when you move overseas. The moving and the unpacking and the long nights of cleaning finally got to me and a few days later I opened the freezer to find that I had put a map in there. THEN I tried making Mark I really yummy sandwich with the special gourmet parmigiana cheese I bought from the specialty aisle at the supermarket when I didn't know where I was. He wanted a taste so I gave him one. It seemed like really soft parmigiana but I figured it was just the way this variety was, not so. I am sure that in looking at this picture you will see why, but I was so disorientated and overwhelmed for days apparently, that I did not notice the obvious. I was about to give Mark several slices of fresh Italian butter. It was worth it though to have a real good laugh for the first time in days of moving with Mark.

Happy Late Birthday to Aida

Uncle PJ and Aunt Sandi knew just what to get Aida for her birthday-a Hannah Montana Messenger Bag and stationary. Can you tell if she liked it?

Aida got a special visit from her Aunt Suzann and Uncle Jim for her birthday in New Hampshire. Even better was that they came with chocolate cake! It may look like a love heart but Suzann sliced it prior to letting Aida blow out the candles. The cake was very yummy!

Grandma Penney took Aida to get a cute new dress for fall for her birthday and Grandma Ruth surprised her with a quilt. Aida felt really special to have grandmas that love her so much!
We gave Aida a little camcorder to do some filming for her Blog. Here she is taping herself taping or something like it. Very cute and her and Lucy have come up with some real great ideas.

I know this is late, but I couldn't let this year go by without giving a big shout out to my main girl Aida! Aida has been such a good sport because she had to celebrate her birthday on the go. We were a little stressed out but she was flexible and she got to have a little bit of birthday in California and a little bit of birthday in New Hampshire. Every year I like to try to write the girls a letter letting them know what they have done during the year and the ways that I have seen them grow, okay, so i have really only done it twice, but I like to do it and I will write most of the mushy stuff there. For here, I just wanted to let it be known that I am so proud of my oldest daughter Aida. I really do remember looking at her as a baby and thinking how adorable she was, then following her around as a toddler, then thinking how wonderful it would be when she would be old enough to talk to me. She really has never disappointed me in any of her stages. Aida is so unique, talented and loveable. I can't even recall how many times I have been thankful to have Aida around. She is truly the peacemaker of the family and 99.9% of the time is the most mature around here. I have learned a lot from my Aida and I am continually amazed at how someone like me could be so blessed to have someone like her for a daughter. Thanks Aida I love you!

First Day of School

The girls are now officially part of the Jersey school system. Our move to New Jersey will have to be a post of it's own at another time, but for now to appease those eager for their Berg Fixx (ahem, Jill-O and others of the like :)) I will post some pictures of the girls. Aida decided to wow everyone with her all pink outfit, Lucy played it safe with Hanna Montana, and Maya was able to make a friend real quick with her princess backpack bond. with a Don't mind Maya's pouty face, she really was excited to go to school. She was real pleased to come home and tell me the new rules: no hitting, no biting, no punching, keep your hands to yourself, take your pencil legs and criss-cross them like applesauce (this was her most favorite rule of them all). I apologize for the flash-in my haste I forgot to turn it off, can we just call them artsy?