A Sunday Afternoon

Some people think Sunday dinner is all about a roast with mashed potatoes and all the fixin's. Here at the Jacobson household, we tend to do a little more resting on the sabbath and therefore our dinners turn out to be less succulent, but no less fun. When Tim works late during the week, studies on Saturdays, and attends church meetings half the day on Sundays, Sunday evenings are the most quality family time we get all week. We'd rather spend the time outside than in the kitchen. Usually we take a long walk around our neighborhood or along the bay enjoying the CA weather we pay a premium for. A couple Sundays ago, we took a picnic dinner of cheese, crackers, grapes, and pistachios to a park. Watching your husband make your girls giggle, chasing London on the lawn, waving to people passing in their boats...I think this should be our Sunday dinner tradition.

Here's what you get when you try to get your three favorite people to smile and look at the camera at the same time:

Another Photo Shoot

Here are the girls in their Easter dresses. This time I actually purchased a few and didn't just get the freebie! I bought #1, #2, and #5. Why does Eden's head look bigger than London's in #4? Who knows the photographer to ask for at the Hillsdale Picture People? I thought the dude we got was a dork.

It's never too early to wear mom jeans

Cart Wars

Today I went to the grocery store. Some of you may have noticed the cart with the toddler car on the front end of it. Apparently they need to supply more of these carts because I've only had the good fortune of getting it once and I go to the store at least once a week. London thinks riding in the car cart is the coolest, so I was stoked when I pulled into the parking lot today and saw the car cart empty and waiting. I got out of the car and--could it be? Some other lady was taking the cart!! She was by herself. Surely she didn't need the car cart for herself, and I wasn't going to give it up that easily, so I left my kids in the car with the doors wide open and ran after her to ask for it. "I'm sorry," she said. "My son is coming and this is the only way I can get my shopping done." I was miffed, but figured, she got to it first, so oh well.

BUT THEN--you won't believe this--as I'm walking up with Eden in her car seat in one hand and London on the other hip, loading them into the regular cart, her man strolls up with her son! What the heck? That's the only way you can get your shopping done? How about you leave the dude at home with the kid and come by yourself? Save the prized car cart for single moms with 2 kids like me! With Eden in the front part and London sprawled out in the rear, I hardly had room for my groceries! I know she saw me as I was loading my kids up, and if the roles were reversed, I would have been the bigger woman and given up the car cart to the woman in need. (And if I didn't, then Tim certainly would have insisted she have it, because he's definitely the bigger man!)

BUT WAIT! It gets worse. We kept passing each other in the aisles, and I noticed she had her own cart with the groceries and her man was just pushing the kid around in the other one, as if it were an amusement park ride! As it turns out, we ended up checking out at the same time, and I noticed that her kid was asking her to buy him some Thomas the Train book and she was trying to talk him out of it, while my sweet baby was smiling and cooing at me and the bagger was telling London what an angel she was. So I guess the moral of the story is I'd rather have MY kids in the regular old cart than have a kid who requires the car cart and a man who isn't very manly any day. After all, London didn't even mind being surrounded by cereal and lettuce. Can you really complain about that?

Easter

Here are pictures from our Easter week! London joined her friends at our playgroup for an egg hunt. The hunting stopped abruptly and turned into eating when the kids discovered the candy inside the eggs. Some eggs contained Gerber puffs as well as candy. The puffs were discarded on the lawn. Saturday morning we attempted to take family portraits for Easter. It wasn't our best shoot, but we salvaged a few decent shots. Later that afternoon we went to Pacifica beach and watched people attempt to catch crabs and the seals that prevented them from doing so. Sunday we went to church and then Cousin Maret kindly hosted us and Abuelo (Grandpa for those of you who don't hablar espanol) for Easter dinner and egg hunt. It was an Easter miracle when Maret found out we had not yet viewed the deleted scenes from Waiting for Guffman and she was there to witness the screening!

As we were in the Garden of Eden

As I was changing Eden's diaper today, I realized how much I love her chubby thighs. And then I realized how much I love her chubby cheeks, and her feet, and her hands, and her rolls everywhere, and, so help me, I undressed her completely and did a photo shoot so that I could always remember her body as it is now. Let's face it, those rolls won't always be adorable, but they are now, and I can't help but squeeze them and kiss them and stroke them as a mother should. Sorry I can't post more on the internet, for obvious reasons--Tim will probably frown on even this--but can I really keep her all to myself? She was on the changing table so long that London got jealous and started begging to get her diaper changed too. Lo and behold, there was a poop! A child can do anything for attention.

Saturday Fun

When London was a baby, she loved getting her hair washed. I used to say she was going to the salon when I put her in the bath. Last Saturday she had her first real salon experience when she got her first haircut. She wasn't scared at all and didn't cry! Maybe that had something to do with the barber chair designed like a car and the Dora video sedation:

Here is the "before" picture. Pretty shaggy!
On Saturday my friend, Nicole, and I both had absent husbands so we thought we'd hang out with our kids and do something fun. We drove over to the Berkeley's Tilden Park where there is a deluxe mini steam train to ride and an animal farm. Aside from getting lost multiple times and several toddler meltdowns, it was a success! The train ride is so great--it's at least 10 minutes long, has two tunnels, a cute old man engineer that blows the whistle and says "all aboard!" and it's only $2!! That is a bargain, considering the one in San Mateo's central park is $1.50 and goes around the puny lawn only once!

In this picture London is looking at chickens, but it also shows her squatting prowess.

London also participated in the Nordstrom spring fashion show on Saturday. Her friends, Lucy and Ella, were also in the show. Ella wore the same dress, so she and London walked down the catwalk together. I had to restrain myself from buying the ensemble because it's just so adorable! You can get a good look of London's new and improved hairstyle after her salon makeover: