All of the Above

Wow. This week has been FABULOUS. I can't decide if it's because a) we're on spring break, b) we're back in our casita, c) I'm getting to redecorate. I think it's all of the above. The awesome thing about spring break is that Mark and I both have the same vacation schedules. What can be more fabulous than that? And we have 2 weeks of spring break!!

Sunday-

• Mark ran in Oakland's Running Festival- the 1/2 marathon! Sadie and I went to the sidelines to cheer him on. We had a blast, and loved celebrating with dad afterwards (more pics on this later...)

Monday-

• Moved back into our house.
• Walked to Peet's, went shopping.
• Chilled.
• Had family dinner at my mom's.

Tuesday-

• We went to little farm in the Berkeley Hills- even though Sadie was quite sleepy- it was awesome!! (see piggy video)
• Met my friend for coffee
• Had some good friend over for dinner

Wednesday (Today)-

• Went shopping at IKEA (we had breakfast there too- $7 for three people!)- and made big plans to organize our small space wisely! Sadie loved running around IKEA. She especially loved the kiddy kitchen and snuggling on daddy's shoulder.
• Took afternoon naps
• Went to Dimond Park- had fun chatting it up with neighbors

Thursday (tomorrow)

• Day trip to the beach!

Friday

• Go to Muir Woods (in the Marin Hills, by the coast) with our friend Seth

I love the sun (especially after weeks of cold rain)! I love California! I love my family!

xoxo,
Rebecca

Take 2

FYI friends,

To make it easier for people to remember, I renamed my other blog- The Joy of Literacy

Check it out here:
http://thejoyofliteracy.blogspot.com/

My mom thought Bedfellows and Pocketbook Companions would make a good title for a memoir....ahhhh, someday mom.

XOXO,
Rebecca

It is what it is

Since August we have been trying to sell our house. We lowered our price and tried again this spring, and got an offer within the first couple weeks of putting the house back on the market. But the deal collapsed yesterday. We are bummed that we put so much time, effort, and money into this 8-month journey...

Today we are back at our cute little house after spending weeks at my mom's (she's been such a gracious host). And we're spending time reflecting on the circumstances.

Mark is strumming on his guitar, and wrote some lyrics-
The breeze
blowing through the trees
outside my window
sky is blue
My baby is asleep
in the other room
We got everything we need
When I'm next to you

I'm reading Cutting for Stone. And last night, after getting the news of our botched deal, the last words I read for the night felt apropos (@ 24% on the kindle version)-

For the first time since Sister Mary Joseph Praise's death, Matron felt a sense of peace, a sense of certainty where there had been none. She was certain that this was the spot- this was where the long voyage of Sister Mary Praise would end. She remembered, too, her first days in Addis, when things looked so bleak, so terrifying, so tragic- it was at those moments that God's grace came, and that God's plan was revealed in his time. "I can't see it, Lord, but I know you can," she said.

So here's what I can be optimistic about going forward-
1-We love being blocks from such an amazing park.
2- We love the convenience of our neighborhood. Yes, we have Peet's, the library, banks, restaurants, 2+ grocery stores- but more importantly, easy freeway access is such a perk!
3-We feel safe in the Dimond- you hear a lot more gun shots in the neighborhood we were planning to move to. This was a low priority for us in general, but somehow having a kid changes these sort of priorities for you.
4- Our neighborhood is very walkable, and encourages us to have a more active lifestyle.
5- Hopefully we'll be creative and make this house work better for us going forward. I'm looking forward to possible renovations.
6- We love the school we're slotted for, Glenview. It's public, diverse, has good test scores, has a dynamic parent community, and is walking distance from our house.
7- We love that we're in between the hills and the flats.
8-We love Farmer Joe's- and we've missed it.
9- By staying longer, we'll be able to put more equity in the house...hopefully it will be a better financial decision in the long-run.
10- The leak in our garage (which really killed our deal), only got 2 of our boxes wet.

Here's to being optimistic!

XOXO,
Rebecca

sadie in the land of short-lived obsessions

I can't say that life has been wonderful to me (or to our little family) lately. It was looking up until....today. We just got back a crappy inspection on the house we're trying to sell. Really? 5 years ago when we bought it, our inspector told us it was in great condition. I think those contractors are just trying to get some work in this dang blasted lousy economy. And I don't really think it's fair that the contractors do the inspections...does that seem fair to you...it feels quite biased. We were so close to being settled for 15 years, but now, who knows? So the waiting continues...

Here's some of the fun we're having as learn to have more patience and live life:

 Fashion police...arrest this girl! Well she was festive, at least, it being St. Patty's Day.

 Success with veggies!! Here are some photos catching Sadie in action with a veggie-laden mommy creation. This is brown fried rice with broccoli, corn and egg. Tonight I tried throwing some sauteed shredded carrot and onion into her quesadilla- it was a hit! For some reason she liked the sauteed veggies more than the tortilla itself. She also loved the hidden veggie pasta sauce I made- so I've made that a couple of times. I'm getting better at this.

 Mommy, I love it, see?

 This is classic Sadie- she wanted daddy's belt. So I put it on her (double wrapped, of course). She walked around the house for more than an hour with the belt on. Isn't this look kinda hipster? Here she's bringing spices to the dog bed (we are dog sitting). She loves the dog's bed, even though we tell her it's dirty and that she cannot sit on it. What to do? She loves it.

This is Sadie's latest obsession- our friend's BOB that we're borrowing. She calls it a weee weeee. Today it was raining pretty hard all day. Sadie wanted to sit in the stroller by the front window with books and toys.

She just sat there for a good hour and was so content. I love my silly little girl.

XOXO, Rebecca

In a nutshell

Top Ten Activities this week:
1) Walking around the hood almost daily
2) Sadie eating whole peas covered in vegetable-loaded tomato sauce
3) Getting picture texts of baby cousin Rory
4) Finally getting back the a counter offer on a house we are trying to buy (5 days late! Craziness.)
5) Our appraisal going through on the house we're trying to sell. Whoot Whoot!
6) Husband didn't have class Thursday night, so we got to hang out
7) Making (green) cupcakes last night
8) Sadie is slowly adjusting to daylight savings time change (That's a good thing, even though it means she's short napping herself)
9) Reading before bed- I'm finally hooked into my current book club book
10) It's finally Friday night!!! And Mark's back with the take-out Indian! Yum!! Bye!


XOXO, Rebecca

Photo Bomb of Sadiekins

Life is full lately. We're in escrow on our house, and trying to buy a new house. I am so ready to be settled. But despite 1/2 of year of transition, cleaning rampages, and staging - our little bundle of joy remains resilient.

Sadie thought it was awfully funny to crush the blackberries in her hands.

Playing with dada's hat:

Where's Sadie?

More eating pictures. I think this is the only time Sadie is semi-still lately. Sadie says "nana" all the time for banana, "agua" or "bebe" for her milk, and she also said strawberry this week! She's becoming quite the word smith. She picks up a lot of things from day care- that's where she learned agua. She also says "abre" for open (spanish), etc... She says new things daily- it's a lot of fun!

Sadie loves grandma's. She carries around gma's necklace. In her other hand is a toothbrush- one of her new obsessions.

Reading in her favorite chair. Sadie can get in and out of this chair with no end. She usually fills it with her favorite things (books, keys, froggie, milk cup, etc...), sits for a bit, then takes everything out of the chair and starts all over. Funny girl.

Which picture doesn't belong? Last week we had a yummy white bean and kale stew using a recipe from Smitten Kitchen, so I thought I'd share the end result. The bread was a bit brown (whoops!), but the poached egg was delicious. And the stew itself was FABulous!

Have a great WEEK! Laugh and eat something yummy!

XOXO, Rebecca

roar!

Here are a couple of new Sadie videos:

Some exciting news- Mark's sister, Claire, had a baby girl this week: Rory Elisabeth! When we told Sadie, she started roaring dramatically! We tried to recreate this moment for video, but Sadie had toned down the drama by that point. We're so thrilled to have a new addition to the family!

Sadie got to go to her first Quinceanera last week! So fun! Happy Birthday 15th Nana! If you watch closely, you can watch the birthday girl walk by in her princess dress- she looked amazing! And the pork tacos were awesome!

This is a typical day in the life of Sadie- dancing, chattering, and playing contentedly with her toys. It's fun for me to watch her play.

XOXO, Rebecca

My New Blog about Literacy!

If it isn't apparent by now-I am such a literacy nerd. As a Literacy Specialist in an urban school district in California, I am particularly interested in community literacy, family literacy, and learning how to best teach my struggling readers (all of my students!).

Being passionate about literacy prompted me to start a second blog. This blog will be my professional blog taking up best literacy practices for teachers and families.

The blog is called Bedfellows and Pocketbook Companions, read along, if interested. I'd love any ideas you have about things you'd like for me to post about (or let me know if you to join in with the posting).

Here's the direct link: http://pocketbookcompanions.blogspot.com/.

XOXO,
Rebecca

Being Myself

My brother and his awesome wife, Sarah, came over for dinner last night. We usually have family dinner night on Mondays (with gma, brothers, sister, spouses, cousins), but since gma and team prinz had other things going on- we decided that it would still be fun to have dinner with Aaron and Sarah.

My hubby always comments about my behavior when Aaron leaves. He always says something to the effect of, "You're so you when you're around Aaron" or "You were so fun tonight." And I think to an extent, he's right. I am completely myself around Aaron. I'm not sure why that is. Aaron is Aaron- non-judgmental, excited about life, a little wacky sometimes, curious, thoughtful, and so untrendy that it's almost hip. It's just nice to be around him. We may gel well together because we played together a lot as kids, went to the same college, like playing (nerdy) board games, and get really excited about things we're excited about. But maybe it has more to do with who Aaron is, than having to do with Aaron and me (hmmm....); he is a pretty neat dude.

Last night the four of us ate meatballs subs of deliciousness together (see the recipe from Smitten Kitchen here ) and chatted about schema, iphones, education, playing games, and the nieces.

Thanks for a fun Monday night you two!

[Now Aaron- I'm putting the pressure on. You have to start that blog linking all the blogs that talk about you coolness! And you can also field test your book 7 out of 10 Doctors Recommend It.]

Besides your spouse, who do you feel the most you around?